Thoughts fbt\ the People

Reuben Greene M.D.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

Chap. Copyright No.

Shelf. Q &

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

THOUGHTS
FOR THE PEOPLE

ILLUSTRATING MAN'S REAL RELATION,

PHYSICALLY,

POLITICALLY, SOCIALLY, AND RELIGIOUSLY,

TO THE UNIVERSE OF GOD

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS UPON THE ORIGIN AND PREVENTION

OF SICKNESS, SUFFERING, AND PREMATURE DEATH; THE

RESULT OF FIFTY-SIX YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL

EXPERIENCE AND OBSERVATION

/BY
REUBEN GREENE M.D.

JUL 17 IBM,

BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS

10 MILK STREET
1896

Copyright, 1896,

BY

Reuben Greene M.D.
All Eights Reserved.

/I- 32.5-/3

C. J. PETEES & SON, TYPOGRAPHERS, BOSTON.
J. J. ARAKELYAN, PEINTEB.

\r

INTRODUCTION.

Beyond the duties immediately connected with
the medical profession, I have not been able to
give my time largely to literary pursuits. But
now, in the peaceful twilight of my eightieth year,
in the retirement of my quiet home, I have penned
these thoughts, the result of long experience upon
the vital questions now agitating the public mind.
I hope the conclusions herein expressed will tend
to allay the social, religious, and political discon-
tent from which the world is suffering to-day.

In my youth I began to observe the demoraliz-
ing effects of evil thoughts and unholy desires
upon the character and lives of the people.

In the early years of my medical practice I gave
particular attention to the effect of poisonous
drugs, narcotic and alcoholic stimulants, upon the
human system; and my deliberate judgment con-
demned their use. I therefore ruled them out of
my Materia Medica, and out of my life ; and I
have never had occasion to question the wisdom
of that decision.

3

4 INTRODUCTION.

Fifty-six years of professional experience and
observation have passed. Being a practising phy-
sician enabled me not only to study disease in
its various forms, but the better to observe and
study human nature, and to see the inner life of
the people, which, to a great extent, is hidden from
the world.

The summing up of these varied experiences
has convinced me that poverty, suffering, sickness,
and premature death are largely the result of im-
pure thoughts and unholy desires, and the dissipa-
tion, vice, immorality, and crime which follow in
their trend.

Notwithstanding all this suffering, immorality,
and crime, we have the best authority for believ-
ing that we reap only what we sow ; and I feel
sure that no man can be secure from the common
ills of life, and the influence of evil habits and
evil deeds, while his mind is controlled by evil
thoughts. It is this medley of good and bad
thoughts in our minds that makes our lives so ir-
regular and unreliable. Purifying the fountain
from evil thoughts is the true basis of reform ; and
only when we free our minds from evil thoughts
shall we be able to free our lives from the bondage
of evil habits.

We did not make the world, and we cannot
manage it. We have been given life, and we can-

INTRODUCTION. 0

not avoid its responsibilities. We are impelled to
make a continuous journey ever onward ; and as
we shall never pass this way again, let us do all
the good we can to those about us. We are trav-
elling together to join the great majority; and it is
important that we should be prepared, not only
for the pilgrimage, but for our reception in that
land beyond the river.

If, in our journey through this world, we wished
to explore a country that was foreign to us, we
should not only study the geography of the
country, the language and the customs of the in-
habitants, but we should also convert our money
into the currency of the land through which we
desired to pass.

Gold has its value here, but it will not avail
as currency in the New Jerusalem. We should
therefore, as we travel, like all wise travellers, by
good works convert our treasures into character
and love, which are born of the heart, and will
be acceptable on earth or in heaven.

We are rich and worthy according to what Ave
are, and not according to what we have. The
gold a man possesses is the measure of his money,
not of himself. Without character and love in
the heart, and only money to recommend us, we
really have no capital acceptable in that unknown
land.

6 INTRODUCTION.

Let us accept the events of life in God's ap-
pointed way, cultivate brotherly love, and use the
good things of this world as part of God's uni-
verse ; and having done our best, we shall in
due time receive our reward.

"And so beside the silent sea
I wait the muffled oar,"

trusting that the thoughts expressed on the follow-
ing pages will receive the candid consideration
of the public, and help to solve the various prob-
lems of life and human happiness, and prevent
the misery and degradation which now hold in
bondage the great mass of our people.

REUBEN GREENE, M.D.
34 Temple Place,

Boston, Mass.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Thoughts on Government and Social Problems. 9

Thoughts on Religious Problems 58

Thought in Education 109

Thoughts on Brain Work 131

Thoughts are Realities 144

Thoughts on Intemperance 153

Narcotic Stimulants — Tobacco — Opium ... 181

The Problem of Health 195

Sanitary Science 205

Value of Sunlight 224

Importance of Sleep 229

Use of the Nostrils 241

Stammering 253

Use of the Beard 255

Occupation — Exercise 259

Posture 265

Benefit of Laughing — Crying 268

Music .270

1

THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

THOUGHTS ON GOVERNMENT AND
SOCIAL PROBLEMS.

The necessity for government is constitutional
with us all. Our very life development demands
it. Government is not merely to restrain the
wicked, but so to direct the various forces of
society as to enable them to work together for
the common good. Government is therefore an
essential condition of human life.

The authority for human government is derived
from the source of all power, and with it is con-
nected great responsibility to both subjects and
administrators. A perfect ethical standard can-
not be expected in human laws ; but no govern-
ment or organization can ever be a permanent
success that does not acknowledge the Supreme
Being, and receive its inspiration from the realm
of spirit. We should therefore all render proper
respect to authority.

10 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

I do not say that human governments are per-
fect, or that they should not be changed or im-
proved. As the masses become better educated,
civilization will advance, and the people will de-
mand not only better laws, but that they shall be
properly executed by men of character and trust-
worthiness. In the properly constituted govern-
ment unreserved obedience is essential, or its noble
ends can never be fully consummated. If a law is
in itself unjust, its enforcement will prove it so,
and the proper authorities will repeal it.

It is very unwise, if not criminal, under a gov-
ernment by the people and for the people, like that
of the United States, for individuals or organiza-
tions to ignore their obligations to society, and set
up for themselves what they term standards of
right against law and order. People who thus
take the law into their own hands take a fearful
responsibility, and do not seem to realize the fact
that their so-called individual liberty becomes
tyranny to other individuals and to the commu-
nity in which they live, and also a direct violation
of inherent and governmental rights.

This tyranny of liberty, as it may be called, has
become one of the greatest disturbing elements of
our time. Personal independence, without the
sense of obligation for the rights of others and to
society, leads to a careless disregard of the rights

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 11

of people and often to acts of violence. This is
what personal liberty means when it runs into
license. Men who do not comprehend their spir-
itual nature, who think and act only upon the
material plane, would not be likely to know how
to rightfully use their freedom; hence it is not
strange that men of limited education, undevel-
oped in spirit, and without external restraint,
should mistake license for liberty.

A little candid consideration must satisfy any
one that individual liberty in physical relationship
is impossible in any community. Each individual
having a right to an opinion of his own, and each
differing from others upon almost every subject,
the freedom of each would conflict with the free-
dom of others, and there would be constant con-
tention of opinion. To develop anything like a
Christian civilization there must necessarily be
concessions from each and every individual, a
mutual yielding of personal rights for the good of
the whole, — a sort of government, implied if not
written, defining the rights of each.

Law is not the result of arbitrary desire to rule,
but grows out of the needs and necessities of
mankind ; and from the necessity comes what is
termed common law. This common law is neces-
sary to protect the individual and society; and
being made by mutual consent, and for the good of

12 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

humanity, it should be obeyed by all. In the pro-
tection of society and individuals, there may be
conflict. The public good may require the taking
of private property for public use, but provisions
have been made by which the individual is pro-
tected from injustice. The Constitution gives
equal rights, and the law offers equal protection,
to all.

Those in authority must not be expected to
listen to the clamor of those whose feelings of self-
independence and self-importance lead them to
acts of violence against law and order. In the
administration of the laws they must be governed
by the Constitution, and the higher and eternal
principles, which are the voice of God. The pri-
mary element of all true self-government is a
proper consideration of the rights of others. A
person who is not willing to yield enough of what
he calls his personal rights to submit to the proper
regulations of society has not received the first
element of a true education, and should, instead of
quarrelling with the order of this world, create
for himself, if possible, another world, which he
may call his own, and upon which he can, in the
solitude of his own selfish nature, enjoy his per-
sonal rights and liberty without interfering with
the rights and liberty of others.

Every person has an individuality, a feeling of

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 13

independence, . of self-respect, which belongs to
every man, and should not be surrendered, but
should be used so as not to impose upon the rights
of others. Man's personality is so strong and so
diversified that it renders equality of condition
impossible upon any material basis. There may be
something of a social organization among people
on a higher plane of life, but even there it would
obliterate all sense of individual manhood; and I
am not sure that socialism would be practical or
even desirable in heaven, where "one star differ-
eth from another star in glory."

The man who lives upon his own selfish
thoughts, regardless of the rights of others, doing
nothing for his fellows, cannot be a happy man.
He may in a material sense be successful and
accumulate wealth, but he will find that he has
been building himself into conditions which will
afford him no real satisfaction; while the man
who obeys the regulations of society, and by gene-
rous acts makes himself useful and necessary to
the well-being and happiness of others, builds him-
self into the hearts of the people, and his name
will not be forgotten.

It is claimed by some of our labor organizations
that all men are equal. It is true that all men are
equal in their rights before the law ; but it is very
evident that they are not all born equal, and are

14 THOUGHTS FOE THE PEOPLE.

not equal in condition more than in stature. In
Christ's parable talents were not given to men in
equal amounts, but they Avere given according to
their several abilities ; and so they are to-day.
Some men have many talents, and can accomplish
much more than others ; and I see no reason
why men should not receive to-day, as in Christ's
time, according to their several abilities.

The physical and intellectual faculties which
God has given us are widely different; but these
varied talents, which make for us different condi-
tions in life, all have their advantages, and they
are all necessary parts of the great organism of
humanity. We have all received according to
our capacity, and each individual should see that
he is the " right man in the right place." We
should all realize the fact that each man was
" created " to fill a place in nature and in society
which no other man can fill; that each one is
fitted to walk in a certain path that he may not
interfere with others ; also that each one should
maintain his own individuality and self-respect,
and keep in his own place, and perforin his own
duty, that the harmony of the universe may not
be disturbed.

The planets all have equal rights, and move in
concord ; but they are not equal in size nor in con-
dition. So with man: we are all equal in our

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 15

rights, while we are not all in the same condition;
but if we all moved in our proper sphere, there
would be harmony and not discord.

"What if the foot, ordained the dust to tread,
Or hand, to toil, aspired to be the head ?
What if the head, the eye, or ear repined
To serve mere engines to the ruling mind ?
Just as absurd for any part to claim
To be another, in this general frame ;
Just as absurd to mourn the tasks or pains
The great directing mind of all ordains."

All that is required of any man is that he should
be faithful in the service demanded by the condi-
tion in which he is placed.

It is a popular fallacy that the poor man is poor
because of lack of equality of opportunity with
the rich man. True success in life is assured, not
by wild speculation, but by intelligent thought and
well-directed effort to overcome unfavorable condi-
tions, and in filling faithfully the place for which
nature and circumstances have designed us.

I know it is often remarked, as a slur upon the
civilization of our time, that the rich are growing
richer and the poor poorer. How it may be with
the poor immigrants who are constantly coming
to our shore, I am not prepared to say. But with
regard to our own people, I think it is true that
all classes are becoming richer. There never was

16 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

a time in the history of the world when the poor
and the middle classes have made snch rapid pro-
gress as in the last fifty years. Contrast their
present condition with that of twenty-five years
ago, and we find all classes are better fed, better
clothed, better honsed, better educated, and in
every way more prosperous. Our children are
very much better educated, and in every way our
condition is in advance of the past generation. I
think the per cent of advancement, both in wealth
and general prosperity, has been as great, if not
greater, with the laborers than any other class of
our citizens.

The order of the world requires different con-
ditions, and requires men to fill its varied situa-
tions. Society would not be prosperous were it
composed entirely of capitalists, clergymen, law-
yers, or mechanics. The laborer, though occupy-
ing a necessary and honorable position in society,
if faithful to his trust, may be as happy as the
prince. Every one should see that he is in the
place for which God and nature have fitted him ;
and if he is still dissatisfied, I would respectfully
refer him to Alexander Pope: —

"Ask of Mother Earth why oaks are made
Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade ;
Or ask of yonder argent field above,
Why Jove's satellites are less than Jove."

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 17

We must always bear in mind the fact that
thought is food for the mind and spirit, as really
as bread is food for the body. If the spirit
starves for lack of good thoughts, the body suffers.
It remains with ourselves to decide whether the
powers of mind remain latent, or are used to ele-
vate our manhood. If we depend upon others,
and allow ourselves to be carried, we shall not
only lose our individual power, but lose our place
in society and in the world. If we do not use
our brains, as well as our muscles, we shall find
ourselves, by our own consent, simply a part of
the general business machinery of the world.

Every thought is a real force, made visible in
the work accomplished. A realizing sense of per-
sonal responsibility alone can bring out our occult
and fullest power, and enable us to do our best
work. It matters not what may be our business
or our station in life, we shall always find that
the more good thought we put into our work, the
easier and the better will the work be done. We
may not have the same opportunity as a Washing-
ton or a Lincoln, for we are not living under the
same conditions ; and yet we all have equal rights,
and should feel our obligation and responsibility
in filling the place we are called upon to occupy,
and if our duty is faithfully performed, we shall
secure our reward, " Well done, good and faithful
servant."

18 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

There may be a seeming inequality among us ;
but it is because we do not comprehend God's
plans, and do not follow the Golden Rule which
is God-given. Christ did not condemn rich men
because they were rich, but because they did not
consecrate themselves and their riches to the
good of their fellow-men. The Christ doctrine
or spirit requires that every man, rich or poor,
should have a care for his brother; and whether
his talents are few or many, they should be used
for the good of humanity. In all our acts we
should feel that whatever becomes our duty we
will perform faithfully, not only for the thing
itself, but for the sum of human life and human
happiness.

" Honor and shame from no condition rise.
Act well your part, there all the honor lies."

I believe the great majority of people of all
conditions of life are honest and true, and would
like to live in peace and harmony, but are forced
to live in a society made inharmonious by the
influence of men of worldly ambition, of restless
and discordant minds, who are ever stirring up
strife in political and social circles.

Is it not true that these classes of deluded
mortals are largely responsible for the social and
political commotion of our time ? The men, rich

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 19

or poor, who harbor hatred in their hearts against
their brother man, sink to a very low level, and
really have no standing in any civilized commu-
nity. This contention which jealousy and hatred
engender between people of different conditions
in society "is the real cause of the friction between
labor and capital. Capital is as much a necessity
for the poor as for the rich, and in its use the
public and each individual receive their share
in the benefit.

Between the rich and the poor we have the
same extreme in man which is found in all de-
partments of nature. The forest trees, the shrubs,
and vegetation, all have their variety in extremes.

In this kingdom of nature, no one accuses a
tree of being a robber because it is greater than
the shrubs that grow beneath its branches. The
harmony of nature is manifested in endless variety,
and the mutual dependence of one upon all and
all upon one is never a subject of criticism. The
same extreme exists in man, and who shall pre-
sume to disturb the harmony or break the peace
by disclaiming against the order of nature ? The
inequality of condition is as great in the mineral,
the vegetable, or the animal kingdom, as it is in
man. I believe that every thing created, from the
mineral and the vegetable to the animal kingdom,
including man, has absolutely equal rights, each

20 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

in his own sphere and condition. " God is no
respecter of persons," and shows no partiality in
his works.

This equality of rights which all have could
not be maintained without the endless variety of
condition. Pope says : —

"Extremes in nature equal ends produce;
In man they work to some mysterious use."

He does not explain the use of such mystery,
but it may arise from the fact that man is the only
thinking being who has power to comprehend the
difference in condition. If this knowledge makes
man dissatisfied with his place in the world, and
induces him to contend against his brother and the
natural law, then a little learning is truly a dan-
gerous thing ; and man should extend his knowl-
edge, and find that there is a law of compensation
extending through all nature, and its benign in-
fluence is felt by the poor as well as the rich, and
by all created things.

" Nature's children all divide her care;
The fur that warms a monarch warmed a bear."

Under the Constitution and laws of our State,
the laboring man, who pays a poll tax of two dol-
lars a year, has the same right to vote, and the
same protection, as the capitalist, who pays an

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 21

annual tax of a hundred thousand dollars. The
children of the rich and the poor are equally eligi-
ble to education at the public expense.

Take, as an illustration, our own city. Boston
has paid many million dollars for schoolhouses ;
for teachers, and running expenses of our schools
for the school year 1895, $2,175,686.23 per an-
num. We have 74,666 pupils attending these
schools. Dividing the total annual expense by
the number of pupils attending, we have $29.14
per annum for each pupil. Each child is supposed
to attend school twelve years, from six to eighteen.
Twelve years at $29.14 equals $349.68 for each
child. Suppose a poor laboring man has five chil-
dren ; their education costs the city $1,748.40.
The city gives this poor laboring man, in educat-
ing his children, $1,748.40. This money for the
support of our schools is drawn from the property
holders for the public good, as much for the bene-
fit of the poor man's children as for the children of
the rich.

Does the dissatisfied laboring man ever realize
that the many million dollars is collected every
year from persons having property ; from the cap-
italists who are taxed for this amount of money to
support schools for the equal benefit of all ? This
is all right, and I only wish they could all be
better educated. But does it ever occur to the

22 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

poor, or the laboring man, that thankful hearts
would be more appropriate than denouncements
against the capitalists who, by their care and in-
dustry, provide the means for the education of all ?

It may not be possible for all to become rich.
But I think it is the solemn duty of every man to
be industrious and saving, and try to accumulate
a competency to maintain his independence and
manhood in old age, and to provide for his chil-
dren.

When employers do not love or respect the men
they employ, and do not treat them as brothers,
the laborers lose confidence in them. When
laborers do not love or respect their employers
they will not be likely to work for their interest,
and by reason of ill feeling and evil thoughts dis-
tracting their minds, they cannot act in harmony.
This discordant condition of things is all wrong,
and such disturbers of the public peace should be
held responsible for the abnormal social commo-
tion.

The trouble is not with the money or the busi-
ness-like manner in which it has been used. The
real difficulty lies in the lack of spiritual develop-
ment or education of the parties themselves.
They should seek first " the kingdom of God and
his righteousness;" then their souls and all their
riches and all their poverty will be consecrated to

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 23

God and humanity, and they will in spirit reap
their reward. Men will not be condemned for
having wealth, if they obtained it honestly, nor for
being poor, if honestly so, and coming to their ex-
tremity by doing their best, but for not using their
wealth and their poverty in accordance with the
higher law.

The young lawyer who told Jesus that he had
kept the commandments from his youth up, and
yet lacked one thing, did not go away sorrowful
because he had great possessions, but because he
had not cultivated his spiritual nature, and was
not inspired by the mind that was in Christ.

There should be no conflict between capital and
labor, between the employer and the employed,
for their interests are identical. The different
conditions and interests may cause competition
among business men, but this should produce no
ill feeling between them. It is in this common
struggle of life that our powers of body and mind
are developed, and in which we are all being
weighed ; and every man must be accepted for
what he is worth. Merit, not bluster, makes char-
acter, and determines place. The time, the talents,
or faculties which God has given to each individ-
ual, whether in brain or in muscle, are the tools
with which each individual is to carve out his
place as a factor in our struggle for advancement.

24 THOUGHTS FOE THE PEOPLE.

One's tools may be sharp, or they may be dull ;
but whatever they are they belong to him, and
they should indicate to him his peculiar work and
his proper place in society or in the world. Hav-
ing found his proper sphere in life, every day of
honest toil will be to his credit. The most humble
part faithfully performed is sure to bring its re-
ward ; and in such faithful performance of duty he
will have no occasion to find fault with his neigh-
bor, with his government, or with his God.

Nothing can be more preposterous than to sup-
pose that a government can be formed or a

SOCIETY ORGANIZED

under which all men can be equal in ability,
equally successful in business, or accumulate an
equal amount of wealth. On the other hand,
nothing can be more -injudicious or unwise than
for the rich to exercise that extreme selfishness
which would separate them from their fellow-men,
and thus ignore their responsibility to society and.
their duty to those who possess less ability, and
who have less worldy distinction than themselves.
The principle of individuality and its corre-
sponding responsibility is reposed in every life ; but
without sacrificing individuality, every man should
realize the fact that the good of the whole depends
upon the good of each, and the good of each upon

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 25

the good of the whole. " No man liveth to him-
self" (St. Paul).

Man's gifts and talents are varied, but there is
a law of compensation running through all nature.
The capitalist is really as dependent upon the
laborer to carry out his enterprises as the laborer
is upon the capitalist for his daily bread, and I
think I may safely say that the troubles and con-
stant unrest of the rich make them on the whole
as unhappy and as comfortless as the poor. The
poor, it is true, have their troubles ; and they often
lose their richest blessings and greatest happiness
by burdening their minds about things they do not
possess, and thinking that if they had money they
would be happy. But a moment's reflection
would satisfy them that

HAPPINESS

comes from within, and is the result of harmonious
conditions of mind. Wealth may procure the
means of comfort and pleasure. But money never
did, and never can, elevate the human soul, or
yield any abiding happiness.

" Virtue alone is happiness below."

Gold does not make a man rich. The million-
aire is not rich because he is a millionaire. The
millions which he possesses are the measure of his

26 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

money, not the man. The real man is no richer
or better for the money, except so far as he uses it
for the good of humanity ; for it is not current in
that country to which we are all travelling.

Notwithstanding all these facts, we are con-
stantly hearing of social and political commotions,
of the cruel reign of capital, speeches from the
leaders of labor organizations, and newspapers
filled with fanciful plans of the remedy for such
evils ; but we find the real difficulty too deeply
seated in the human heart to be remedied by such
speculative theories, or to be removed by govern-
ment or labor organizations, or by any social reform
upon a

MATERIAL BASIS.

Many plans have been offered for the solution
of this great problem, but they are not practical.
Profit-sharing has had its advocates. But as all
human enterprises are liable to failure, it would be
impractical to share profits with those who are
incapable of sharing losses. The overthrow of
existing social conditions will not bring to the
world the high spiritual state that should prevail
among humanity. It is beyond the power of rev-
olution ; it must come through spiritual evolution
in the individual.

Our social and political troubles will not be re-
moved till our people as individuals think and live

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 27

in love. They will not be removed so long as the
evil thoughts, and the malice which evil thoughts
engender, exist between people in the various con-
ditions of society. In short, they will not be re-
moved till all hatred and all wrong feelings give
place to respect and brotherly love. This change
can be accomplished only by love and the grace of
God changing the minds and the hearts of the
people from the carnal and contentious mind to
the unselfish or spiritual mind. It is the Golden
Rule, not the golden calf, we need.

If society at large is to make any permanent
advance towards a better government or higher
attainments in life and human happiness, there
must be a radical change in the heart and in the
life and character of the people. " That govern-
ment is best which is best administered ;" and it is
also true that the peace, harmony, and prosperity
of any community depend more upon the good
thoughts and right actions of the individuals than
upon the administration of any government. But
this fact does not prove that we can dispense with
governmental authority. Nature, reason, and all
history teach the necessity of the recognition of
authority, of some governing power to restrain
those who would interfere with the rights of
others, or disturb the public peace. It is evident,
therefore, that

28 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

ANARCHY

can never be successfully substituted for human
government on earth or for the government of
God in the universe. If a man cannot be satisfied
with God's rule, let him —

" Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod,
Rejudge his justice, he the god of God."

God has ordained law and order, not only for
the universe, but for man. We need law to pro-
tect the public ; we need law to restrain corpora-
tions, because they have no souls, and their officers
persist in doing acts of injustice and oppression
which they would not be likely to do as individ-
uals. We need laws to protect the public interest,
and compel corporations to deal justly, and show
proper regard for the rights of humanity. We
enact and enforce law to maintain equal rights,
but we cannot expect that any law on earth or
in heaven can make us equal in condition.

The legislative act which legalizes the corpora-
tion necessarily confers upon such corporation
power to accomplish certain objects of interest to
the people or state which cannot be accomplished
so well by individuals. Such corporate power
makes conditions that may give to corporations
some advantages over individual interest upon a
business plane of life, where different conditions

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 29

make equality impracticable. Yet facts prove
that such corporations afford individuals and the
public tenfold more benefit in taxation, and im-
proved condition of the country, than the corpora-
tion can in any way receive from itself.

Such corporations, with all their wealth or cor-
porate powers, cannot interfere with our inalien-
able rights, or take from us the right to worship
God ; they cannot take from us our manhood, or
our faculty for the enjoyment of the beauties of
the natural world ; they cannot take from us
affection, truth, and love. All these higher bless-
ings we can enjoy in perfect terms of equality
according to our capacity ; for they belong to God
and humanity, and are beyond the influence of
wealth or any corporate power.

The saddest aspect of the doctrine of socialism,
according to the speeches of some of the leaders
on social reform, is the thought that they are look-
ing for the better condition of things from the
standpoint of outward prosperity, from the mate-
rial side of the question, whereas the reform re-
quired is inward regeneration, or a change of
thought and heart, from the carnal to the spirit-
ual. Without such a change, no organization can
secure perfect peace and harmony to a people
occupying so many different conditions and varied
interests. Without religious faith in the Divine

30 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

as their foundation and guide, no people have
attained any great prominence in the world. No
people have ever made permanent advance in
government or in civilization where God and
man's higher spiritual nature were ignored, and
the people thought only of material prosperity.

All the mysteries of life come from our spiritual
nature ; and a socialism or any other ism that has
no spiritual gospel in it, instead of improving our
moral or religious condition, will lead its followers
into a wilderness of doubt.

In solving the

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

of our day, we must not worship or depend upon
our culture or our civilization. Culture or civili-
zation did not make man, but man develops cul-
ture ; and if God be left out of our thoughts and
out of our lives, we shall find that our civilization
will not civilize, and that our culture will not
save us. If we will but look into the depth of
our own souls, we shall discern mental or spiritual
conditions that require something more than ex-
ternal environment to harmonize. Our nature
demands a higher motive than the material world
can give, higher than culture or civilization af-
fords. We need a spiritual awakening that shall
set the soul on fire, and lead us to throw off the

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 31

bondage of sin and worldly ambition, and rise to
a higher and a better life. This necessary change
is the battle of the spirit, which each individual
must fight out for himself. Government, society,
and the church can never make a man better than
he is willing to help make himself.

The world is waking up to the fact that for
thousands of years we have been sowing seeds
of discord, following evil desires and impure
thoughts ; that our troubles and conflicts are of
our own making; and that in all political, civil,
and religious commotions we are reaping just
what we have been sowing. Our evil thoughts,
as well as our wrong actions, inflict suffering upon
our neighbor and upon the community, no less
than upon ourselves. We should therefore try
to realize the fact that the restiveness of the
people, and the moral and political factions which
distract society and disturb the peace of nations,
are but the legitimate result of the people wander-
ing from God and their higher nature, disregard-
ing divine law, and acting upon false ideas of
human government and of individual rights.

" Remember, man, the ' Universal Cause
Acts not by partial, but by general laws.' "

Let all restless spirits and all disturbers of the
public peace remember that we did not make the

32 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

world or the laws by which it is governed ; that
we cannot better our material conditions or im-
prove our moral nature by contending against laws
which God has ordained. When real or imagi-
nary wrong exists in our social system between
corporations or individuals, capital and labor, it
is better not to take the law into our own hands,
but make a thorough investigation, and have all
made right by the proper authorities ; for there
is always danger in hasty or ill-considered action,
especially in a government like ours, where the
laws are supposed to express the will of the
people, and can be changed as the knowledge and
the wisdom of the people advance.

It is true that organized society, acting in its
unified capacity, owes something in return to the
individual ; and a great question arises, a new
problem comes before us, a struggle between the
opposing tendencies of the times, a strife between
sociology and individuality. The influence of this
contest has already extended over the civilized
world, and will demand a hearing as a factor in
political economy. We are not at present able
to comprehend the magnitude of the results that
may follow the discussion and final settlement of
the social question. They are far-reaching in their
tendencies, and the permanency of the government
itself may become involved in the struggle.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 33

Before committing overt acts against govern-
ment, let us remember that social organizations, in
all their forms and with all their claims, preten-
sions, and assumptions, can have no power except
what they derive from their individual members,
who must always be held responsible for the acts
of such organizations. Socialism, communism, or
any organization that resorts to physical force
in defiance of law and order, may be regarded as
the aggregation of that feeling of personal liberty
which disregards the rights of others, and runs
from liberty into license.

In view of such danger to our institutions, we
should, as individuals or as members of organiza-
tions, be cautious how we promote contention
among our people ; for we know not what " a great
matter a little fire kindleth." Let us act with
discretion ; for we may stir up a strife, and accu-
mulate a force we cannot control. We may in
our zeal, "not according to knowledge," destroy
our institutions ; we may revolutionize our gov-
ernment ; but, unless by the grace of God we rev-
olutionize the human heart, we shall soon find
ourselves facing the same old problems.

The question to be settled, evidently lies with
the individual as the responsible party ; and the
evils from which we are suffering can be avoided
or removed only by removing the evil thoughts

34 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

and unholy desires from the mind and heart of the
individual. When this important work is accom-
plished, when righteousness pervades the minds
and hearts of the people, and they are liberated
from evil thoughts and immoral practices, we may
be sure the community is also free ; for society
has no moral evils that do not originate with, and
belong to, the individual.

The world, the government, or social organiza-
tions can never change, revolutionize, or purify
the hearts and lives of individuals ; but if all
individuals would purify their own hearts and
lives, they could not only institute good govern-
ment, but could by the grace of God redeem the
world. All reforms must come from the in-
dividual. We must therefore accept the fact
that people are not made virtuous or religious
by law ; that human law is not the foundation
or the fountain of love to God or love to
man.

Before we can remove these ills from the com-
munity, we must elevate man into proper relations
with his Maker, and start upon a spiritual basis
of reform. This requires a radical change of
thought, a general reception by the people of the
gospel of truth, which alone has power to change
the hearts and lives of the people, and lift the
race from the carnal to the spiritual plane of

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 35

thought, and insure the peace of society and the
prosperity of the world.

I am not a pessimist ; but I recognize the abuse
of the principles of freedom and religious liberty,
and the

MATERIAL SOCIALISM

of the times, as the principal disturbing influences,
which are found in all departments of life, in the
family, in the neighborhood, and in the church,
as well as in the State and nation. This feeling
of social dissension has become a national sin, a
species of civil insanity or moral disease, which
if not checked will endanger our institutions, and
may subvert the principles of Christian freedom
and political liberty, and plunge us into the gulf
of materialism.

We have had object-lessons which illustrate
this danger in some of our organizations, where
the managers of strikes have exercised arbitrary
power, and, if I remember rightly, counselled
violence and the lawless destruction of property,
as if actuated by hatred, and determined to ruin
if they could not rule.

It seems to me that it requires no argument
to show that physical force by organizations, or
retaliation by individuals, can be productive of
no good, nor afford the least satisfaction to any

36 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

human soul. Any enterprise by individuals, or
by social organizations, that does not enlist moral
and religious power, must surely fail. Common
law, and the mutual interest of all honest and
trustworthy citizens, are not to be sacrificed by
lawless individuals or organizations.

Labor organizations, trusts, secret societies, na-
tionalism, socialism, change in laws, or other hu-
man devices, can never change the heart or lives
of the people, or restore peace and harmony to our
distracted world. For permanent relief we must
appeal directly to man's better nature, changing
his life and his mode of thought from the carnal
to the spiritual. This is the true gospel, and is
the only CURE for the ills of humanity.

POVERTY AND ITS ATTENDANT TLLS ARE PER-
SONAL AND NOT SOCIAL.

Society is affected by poverty only as the suffer-
ings of one part affect the whole. Communities
suffer at times from sweeping epidemics which
demand immediate action from the proper au-
thorities to protect the citizens, but it is only
individuals that are attacked by the disease. So
in States and nations, the sequence of poverty,
ignorance, vice, and immorality is only of the
individual; but the effects cannot be confined to
individual suffering. The state and the commu-

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 37

nity are what individuals make them. The state
in its unified capacity should co-operate with the
individual in all reforms, but no government or
social organization can inaugurate a system that
can change the thoughts or the heart of the in-
dividual. Reform of our moral nature must com-
mence in the heart and life of the individual.
" Let the wicked forsake his way, and the un-
righteous man his thoughts : and let him return
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ;
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon "
(Isa. lv. 7).

If people would follow the prophet's prescrip-
tion, free themselves from ignorance, vice, and all
evil habits, consecrate themselves to God and
humanity, we should live in peace and harmony;
good men would be elected to office, good laws
would be enacted, and strife and contention would
cease.

Although each man is but a drop in the great
sea of humanity, yet he is an integral part of ou]
government; and his good thoughts and his good
behavior are necessary to his own happiness and
the unity and welfare of society.

Man's mental activity and physical, social, and
religious life, are so intimately connected that we
lose to a certain extent the sense of their recip-
rocal action upon each other. It is true that the

38 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

INDIVIDUAL MAXES SOCIETY,

and not society the individual. These individual
and social influences interact; and while the in-
dividual makes society, society to a certain extent
moulds the individual. This intermingling of
social forces, if on a spiritual plane, would dom-
inate the material, and tend to promote harmony ;
but on a material basis, and in our present state of
civilization, no political or social organization or
church can absolve or lessen the responsibility of
the individual member. A man cannot hide him-
self in society, and shake off his responsibility as
an individual. It matters not how much society
as a unit may in a general way owe to individ-
uals, it cannot relieve them from their responsi-
bility to God and humanity as individuals.

Government in our country is supposed to ex-
press the will of the people, and we cannot rea-
sonably expect it to rise higher in moral grandeur
than the best sentiment of the people who com-
pose the government. It is evident, therefore,
that the evils which affect our community, our
nation, and the world, and about which so much
is said, are

PERSONAL, AND NOT SOCIAL.

Socialism or governmental changes on a mate-

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 39

rial plane can never reach the real difficulty, nor
harmonize the human race.

CHARITABLE DEVICES CAN NEVER REMOVE
POVERTY

and its attendant ills. You cannot really help a
man who is not trying to help himself. You may
give him momentary assistance ; but it is never-
theless true, that the more a person is helped, the
weaker becomes his ambition and his power to
help himself.

Much of our charity of to-day is nothing more
nor less than putting a premium on incompetency.
Generosity and selfishness are the extremes which
we find everywhere. The exact equipoise is hard
to maintain. That charity-giving tends to impov-
erish the receiver there can be no doubt, and, if
continued, destroys his creative abilities, para-
lyzes his moral feelings, and turns his gratitude, if
he ever had any, into a secret resentment towards
the giver, because the gifts do not increase ac-
cording to his desires. Of course society must
take care of those who are not competent to pro-
vide for themselves ; but to banish poverty and
its attendant ills, we must arouse the spiritual na-
ture, and develop in every individual a feeling of
responsibility, of independence, self-reliance, and
of true manhood.

40 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

CAPITAL AND LABOR

are important factors in the affairs of the world,
and yet without mind to direct their use they
accomplish very little. Men who inherit money,
and do not know its proper use, soon lose it. Men
who live upon the wealth hoarded by others are
likely to become sluggish in mind and body, and
cannot long hold their possession against the more
active forces about them. Laziness destroys the
ambition, and if a man once submits to its demor-
alizing effects it is hard to arouse him from his
lassitude.

Labor in itself is of no value. A man with a
sledge-hammer may work all his life trying to
demolish the granite hill, without benefit to him-
self or society. I have known men to labor hard
for years, and accomplish very little, because their
labor was not well directed. Labor without intel-
ligent thought to direct it is valueless. The real
value of labor may be said to be in proportion
to the amount of well-directed thought bestowed
upon it.

LABOR, LIKE CAPITAL,

to be profitable, must be directed by intelligence.
If a man has not intelligence enough to employ
himself to advantage, he should sell his labor to
some one who can direct it to some profitable use,

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 41

and who is willing to pay him for value received.
But let no man say that uthe world owes him a
living," for it does not. The world owes to every
man in common an opportunity to earn his own
living.

There are always reciprocal duties connected
with rights. The relation of rights and responsi-
bility is always mutual. When God gives a man
life with power to do good or ill, he imposes upon
him a great responsibility, the extent of which I
fear we do not realize. No man has a right to
accept from the government or any organization
any office or trust unless he is willing to assume,
and feels competent to perform, the duties con-
nected with such office or trust. No man in a
healthy condition can justly claim rights unless
he is willing to assume the duties connected with
such rights. If people would consider this fact
more, we should hear less about rights, and more
about duties. No man in a healthy condition has
a right to live in this world unless he is willing
to perform the duties which God and nature justly
demand of him. It is written, " He who will not
work neither shall he eat." Of course the sick,
or any who may be incapacitated to perform the
duties of life, have a right to proper care, and to
our sympathy, till they have recovered from such
disability.

42 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

In all this I see no cause for complaint. Every
one is free to act for himself. The field before
him is large ; and there is nothing to prevent any
one from engaging in any lawful business where
he can use his brain or his muscle, and make all
the success his intelligence or his enterprise de-
serves.

We should all strive to secure our own individ-
ual physical, moral, and spiritual development ;
but there is no reason why a man who has five
talents should find fault with his government, or
quarrel with his neighbor who has been given more
or less talents than himself. " Where much is
given, much is required." A man who has but
one talent should not hide it in the earth, but use
it faithfully and to the best advantage ; and his
one talent will in some way command for him all
the reward that his condition necessarily requires,
and the uWell done, good and faithful servant."

You will observe that the man referred to in
this parable was not condemned because he had
but one talent, but because he did not use the
talent that was given him. The emphatic point
of admonition in this parable is in the fact that
men of one talent do not use this talent, because
it is one and not many, while the necessity of the
case demands the same faithfulness in the use of
the one talent as in the use of many.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 43

Men deceive themselves about what consti-
tutes real riches, and their proper use. " A
man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the
things possessed." A man's real possessions are
just as large as his own soul. If his title-deeds
cover more, the surplus acres own him, and not he
the acres. The effect of large possessions upon
persons whose thoughts do not extend beyond the
realm of their physical existence tends to belittle
the man, and it is often found that the soul de-
creases in inverse ratio as the possessions increase.
This universal law of recompense men are slow to
learn.

The rich man may be the envy of the people ;
but riches, except for investments and improve-
ments for the public good, should be considered
only as necessary baggage. If we knew that in
our journey of life we should at every turn be
supplied with everything we could desire, we
would not have the trouble of carrying baggage
or money with us, for it would be absolutely use-
less. But the world is not made or run upon that
plan. God has ordained that we should labor to
obtain the means of living as we pass along. If a
man has one trunk, and it contains all the neces-
sary baggage or money essential for his journey
through this life, he is really better off, or in a
true sense richer, than the millionaire, who has

44 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

the care all through his journey of life of thou-
sands of trunks or dollars which he cannot use
for himself ; and it is a question whether the care
and the perplexity of having so much baggage or
money do not make the millionaire more unhappy
than the poor or common people.

All the facts connected with obtaining large
estates go to prove that wealthy men labor hard
to accumulate and save money, which is taxed for
governmental and educational purposes, and for
all improvements made directly by the govern-
ment; while the capitalists themselves really re-
ceive from day to day only their living expenses,
according to their capacity for enjoyment, which
is all that any one can use.

Capital is productive only so far as it is em-
ployed, and I believe it is a fact that no capitalist
can use his money without benefiting the people
at least ten dollars for every dollar of benefit he
retains for himself.

All legitimate business transactions go to prove
that capital, although apparently in the hands of
the individual, really belongs to the public. It
matters not how much money a man may claim to
have, he cannot use it in any legitimate way ex-
cept under public law and under public supervis-
ion. He cannot even erect a building in any city
without first submitting his plans to the city au-

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 45

tkority; and if they are not in every respect sat-
isfactory, they must be changed to conform to the
building-laws before he can be allowed to go on
with his enterprise. This supervision is continued
during the whole process of building, the work
being constantly under the eye of the public in-
spector of buildings. No man, rich or poor, can
make any important alteration on his own dwelling
without such supervision.

In view of all these and other facts, it would
seem that the public really owned the capital, and
that it was being invested for the public interest,
although it is held by the capitalist against the
claim of any other individual.

The capitalist holds his wealth, and can use it
for the public good, and under public supervision,
in building railroads, palaces, founding and en-
dowing institutions of learning, or any legitimate
enterprise which the public may sanction. The
capitalist, with talents so well adapted for the
work, uses his capital to advance the public inter-
est much better than it could be done by the
public.

Is it not true that the capitalists, under the
restrictions imposed by the public, do much better
work for the public good, and for developing the
resources of the country, than could possibly be
accomplished were property divided equally among

46 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

the masses ? If such distribution were made, and
a man had sufficient ambition, he Avould not have
funds enough to allow him to engage in any great
enterprise.

NO CAPITAL, NO ENTERPRISE.

Had property for the last hundred years been
kept divided among the masses, and no person
allowed to accumulate wealth, we probably would
not have had a railroad to the Pacific coast for a
century to come, and a great part of our country
Avould have remained undeveloped. There would
have been no inducement for people to emigrate ;
and the vast extent of our Western territory and
the Pacific coast, now connected by railroads with
all parts of the country, and occupied by millions
of happy people, would have remained in the pos-
session of the buffalo and the bear.

Think of the thousands of millions of dollars
which the capitalists are paying for labor in build-
ing, operating, and keeping in repair, all our rail-
roads ! And what would now be the condition of
the country if our enterprising citizens had not
been allowed to accumulate capital to pay for such
wonderful improvements ?

If our people could realize what capital has
done, and is doing, for this country, I feel sure
that individuals and social organizations would

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 47

refrain from denouncing property as robbery, and
capitalists as robbers.

I do not say that there are not robbers among
capitalists. Dishonest men are found in every
class and in every condition of life, but I think
they are not found in a greater proportion among
capitalists than among other classes of people.
Dishonesty shows itself in many ways. A man
who thinks he would not steal may defraud his
neighbor in other ways. There may be laborers
who would not steal from their employers, and
yet defraud them by not performing faithfully the
labor for which they are paid. The laborer who
is paid for a full day's work, and does but three-
fourths of a day's work, robs his employer of
twenty-five per cent of his wages. The gross
amount of such robbery may be less than the
day's robbery of the dishonest capitalist, and yet
the per cent may be much greater, and that is the
only basis of comparison; for in robbery, as in
rewards, the criterion must be according to our
condition and "several abilities."

Men are dishonest and untrustworthy not be-
cause they are capitalists, clerks, bookkeepers, or
laborers ; the dishonesty is in themselves, and will
crop out as circumstances may offer, without re-
gard to their wealth, condition, or occupation.

The ambition that inspires men to accumulate

48 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

wealth, and hold it as private property, is the
inherent right of every citizen. It is the great
incentive to action, and I have no doubt is for
the best good of all concerned.

If we had no capital, we would have no means
of carrying out enterprises, and very little labor
would be required. I know that it is believed by
some that government should take entire control
and ownership of all public works and great en-
terprises required in the development of the coun-
try. It is undoubtedly true that government can
better manage the post-office department, because
it extends through all the different States ; but
how far the principle of government control
should be extended I am not prepared to say. If
every great enterprise belonged to the govern-
ment, and private citizens were not allowed to
accumulate wealth for public taxation, it is diffi-
cult to see how the government could get money
needed to pay wages to the laborer, or even to
meet its running expenses ; for government can
have no money except what it receives directly or
indirectly from the people.

Within the last few years our government has
been obliged to borrow several hundred million
dollars for governmental purposes. The govern-
ment obtained the amount required by issuing
bonds. But the government could not have

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 49

obtained money on these bonds if we had no
capitalists with money to purchase them. The
government of a people without capitalists could
not carry out any great enterprise, unless it forced
the people to perform the labor without compen-
sation.

The laborers of to-day who demand good wages
from the capitalist in carrying out his enterprise
would not enjoy being reduced to bondage, and
obliged to labor without compensation, as slaves
to the ruling power, as in ancient times. The
temples of the Acropolis at Athens, the Colosseum
and Imperial palaces of Rome, the mighty Egyp-
tian temples, and the Pyramids themselves, were
built under governmental order and supervision,
by the people, who were forced to work as slaves
and menials. The history of the world proves
that when governments have exercised despotic
power, and deprived their subjects of the right to
hold private property, the people were virtually
reduced to bondage. This has been the condition
of the masses in all the ancient countries when
everything was under governmental control. Such
conditions destroy all incentive to labor and in-
dustry, and prevent the development of indepen-
dence and manly feeling,

Let me give an illustration of the value and
power of capital and enterprise in developing our

50 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

country. On my first visit to Chicago by rail
I was obliged to purchase my ticket and check
my baggage to Worcester only, for that was the
extent of the corporation. From Worcester to
Springfield was the extent of the next company's
power; and so after spending about three days.
and purchasing tickets and re-checking baggage
eight or ten times, I finally reached Chicago at
a cost of, I think, sixty-five dollars in cash, and
three days' time and board. I had about the same
experience on returning. These various corpora-
tions were too poor to do their business properly.
After a few years there appeared capitalists who
purchased and consolidated these various roads ;
and now we can purchase our tickets and check
our baggage to Chicago for from twenty to twenty-
five dollars, and go through in thirty hours, saving
two days' time and about forty dollars in money ;
the same on our return, thus saving seventy-five
or eighty dollars and four days' time and board on
every visit to Chicago. So you see that the capi-
talists who are so terribly denounced to-day are
practically giving or saving every one travelling
to Chicago and return, in money, board, and time,
at least a hundred dollars, while the owners of
the road have made about ten dollars profit on our
fare. Think of the amount of travel and the
immense amount of money saved by the people in

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 51

this country by the use of large capital employed
in railroads alone. I think it is within bounds to
say, that for every dollar the capitalist makes by
running the roads, he saves ten for the individual
and the public, in money and in permanent im-
provements for the public good.

The same is true with capital used in any other
way. A builder erects a house, and makes per-
haps a few hundred dollars for himself ; but he
has virtually given the public the building for
taxation for all time. I very much doubt if cap-
italists can use their money without giving to
people or the public, in some way, ten dollars for
every dollar they save for themselves. I think
we may all. be satisfied with such distribution of
their wealth if we do not look beyond the mate-
rial side of the question.

Our capitalists are intelligent, and, I believe,
generally honest men ; and who shall say that they
have not used their riches to the advantage and
the material prosperity of the world? They have
built railroads, and in many ways developed the
resources of the country. They have furnished
employment for the people, and kept the world
from becoming stagnant. They have endowed
our colleges, furnished means for the advance-
ment of the arts and sciences. I have no good
reason for supposing that the money itself has not

52 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE

been used to best promote the material wealth
and prosperity of our country.

The great wealth and prosperity of our country
are more the result of brain-work than they are of
muscle-work. The inventions of machinery have
revolutionized the manner of labor, and enable
one man to accomplish as much as would have
required two or three men before the introduction
of machinery. A builder prepares his material by
machinery, and is enabled to construct a house
in less than one-half the time required before the
age of machinery.

The benefit of machinery, which is the result of
brain-work, extends to every enterprise in the civ-
ilized world. I remember when the tanning of
hides into leather required a full year. Xow it
is accomplished in a few weeks. The making of
shoes by machinery has reduced the labor more
than one-half, and yet the laborer gets higher
wages for a much shorter day's work.

The importance of brain-work is well illustrated
by the following incident : —

A farmer who took summer boarders had one
of very studious habits, who confined himself to
his room the larger portion of the time, engaged in
reading and study. The farmer, being exasperated
at the apparent aimless and lazy life of his guest,
asked him on one occasion why he did not work

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 53

for a living, and do something by means of work,
as other men did. The guest replied by asking
him how he liked the plough with which he was
at that moment turning over the sod. " It is the
best plough ever invented," answered the farmer.
" It saves one-third the work, and nearly half the
time consumed in using the oldTfashioned ploughs
we used to have ; but I don't see what this has
to do with the matter of your doing something for
a living." The guest calmly replied, " I am the
inventor of that plough ; and it was by long hours
of deep mental work and study that I was enabled
to give to the world what saves, according to your
own story, both time and effort for the farmers of
the world."

In all the vast enterprises of our time the cap-
italist furnishes the means, the contractor agrees
to complete the work for a certain amount of
money, and employs the laborers, and the work is
completed. In such transaction the capitalist has
invested his money ; the contractor has received a
profit upon every day's work ; the laborer has re-
ceived his wages ; and all parties realize in com-
mon with the general public the advantage of the
improvement.

I think it within bounds to say that the amount
of permanent benefit from such transactions re-
ceived by the parties and the general public is

54 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

ten times as great as the benefit is to the capital-
ist.

Take another transaction, where combined labor
demands greatly increased wages : the contractor
must increase his demand npon the capitalist, and
if the amount demanded exceeds the value of the
investment, the capitalist withholds his money, and
the enterprise is not carried out. The result is
that the capital remains useless in the bank, the
contractor and laborers remain idle, and' hard
times for them is the result. Such cases, being
multiplied by hundreds of thousands throughout
the country, stop enterprise and the demand for
labor, and produce what we call hard times.

A manufacturer who to prevent strikes is
obliged to pay his help more than the profits of
the factory will warrant, must eventually with-
draw his capital. When we realize the fact that
a large portion of our population cannot, from
some cause, employ themselves to advantage, is it
not better for such persons to work for the wages
the condition of society and the times will war-
rant, than to force the owner into retirement and
the laborer into idleness ?

I am not setting myself up as a judge in these
matters ; but would it not be better for all con-
cerned were there no combinations to obstruct the
natural course of business, and thus comply with

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 55

the natural law of compensation, which we cannot
violate without suffering the consequences? If
we would all act under this natural law, we should
each receive our mutual share, not an equal
amount, but "according to our several abilities,"
as God and nature designed. Every one would
then be free to find and fill his proper place in
the world, and be and act himself, instead of being
a part of a machine or organization as at present.
Acting under a feeling of individual freedom, a
man can be more of a man. There is in human
nature a desire for individual freedom, and an in-
herent love and respect for whatever is free. All
nature rejoices in the spirit of freedom.

Man is said to be the crowning glory of the
world. Is it not strange that such an exalted be-
ing, with high spiritual nature, should allow his
thoughts to unfold from the carnal mind, and live
upon the animal plane of thought ? I have
known men who apparently worked hard to ob-
tain a living by intrigue, who could make a good
living, and in time become comparatively rich, if
they would exercise an equal amount of zeal and
energy in honest and legitimate methods. If man
is the glory, he is certainly the riddle, of the
world.

We are not all created alike ; but we are all
created for some special purpose, and given talents

56 THOUGHTS FOE THE PEOPLE.

which adapt us to perform the duties connected
with our sphere in life, and it is of no use for one
man's talents or personality to come in conflict
with that of others ; " all are but parts of one stu-
pendous whole," and it is useless for one part to
quarrel with other parts. Let each and every one
accept and strive to fill the sphere marked out by
Heaven ; and let us all purify our own hearts and
minds from evil thoughts, and thank God for all
his mercies, and we shall have no occasion to find
fault with our opportunity or the condition of
society.

What may be the future of our country we
know not. But in the past we know that the
individual and the right of private property have
been held sacred. This has enabled the genera-
tions preceding us to accumulate wealth, and place
the country in a condition greatly to our advan-
tage. This principle of equal rights and equal
privileges has allowed each generation to accumu-
late wealth and advance Christian civilization for
the next generation. This law of compensation
not only equalizes the advantages between indi-
viduals, but extends its benign influence among
all nations, and through all time.

The more we study the mutual relations be-
tween capital and labor and the social problems
of our day, the more we shall feel our obligations

SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 57

for the good we have received from those who
have gone before us, and make us more generous
and benevolent in the distribution of our labor
and our wealth for the benefit of those who may
come after us.

It is a glorious thing to build up the temple of
a true life; and in our character-building we
should all realize that whatever promotes the
public good promotes the good of each individual.
When this spirit of fraternity is fully realized, men
will live for each other as well as for themselves,
and the laws and regulations of society will be
respected.

What is needed for the church and the state is
a personal religious spirit, a yielding of our selfish
feelings and interests for the good of others, a
united effort to educate and train the minds of
the people to moral and religious truths ; to har-
monize our physical conditions to the necessities
of this world, and our hearts and souls to the
better world to come. Let all bow in submission
to those whose right it is to rule, whether in the
family, school, church, the State or nation, and
strife and contention will cease, and we shall
begin to realize something of the adoration and
ultimate submission which will be paid to the
Father of all by His redeemed family in heaven.

THOUGHT IN RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS.

There is in the hidden depths of every human
heart an intuitive feeling that in the great invisi-
ble is God, or some Power that is able to satisfy
all our needs and all our aspirations. This feel-
ing or intuition is the language of the soul, and
must be the expression of an immanent spiritual
light which God has implanted in every human
being.

All true religion is the manifestation of the
spiritual light of God's image in man, and reveals
itself out of the mysteries of life, and finds expres-
sion in the joyous outbursts of the soul. Nothing
can blot out the divine thought of the life that
lies beyond the present. Independent of the dif-
ference in civilization of the various nations of
the earth, independent of all traditional dogmas,
it strikes the deepest subsoil of human affection,
and lights up in response to every ray of hope.
It is this that makes Christianity valuable to all
who love and reverence God, and aspire after a
richer and a fuller life. It is thus we see the

58

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 59

hidden meaning wrought out in its relations to
life here and in the great beyond.

All true worship, all spiritual life and the hope
of the future, come from this innate knowledge
of God, as also the belief that man is the child of
God, and that we as His children are endowed
with faculties in the exercise of which we may
look up to Him, and feel that He is indeed our
Father. Without this conscious faith and feeling
of trust in the Divine, we are indeed orphans.

God has given to every human being by crea-
tion an opportunity for the enjoyment of spiritual
life, as St. John says, a "Light which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world." All the
mysteries of life and all true worship come from
this spiritual light, or God's image in man, and are
found among the most ignorant as well as among
the most civilized nations. We all reap what we
sow, and shall be judged by the use we make of
this spiritual light, and not by our civilization
or knowledge of the physical sciences.

We have the Scriptures to aid us in our spirit-
ual research, but it is the Christ spirit and not
the letter of the law that maketh alive ; and unless
the Scriptures are interpreted by spiritual light
they cannot be properly understood or appreciated,
and therefore cannot satisfy the human soul.

Do not think that I wish to depreciate the

60 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

importance of the efforts of missionaries to civilize
and Christianize the heathen. Bnt do we gain
anything in the religious controversies of our
time by making prominent our church creeds, or
by insisting that our Christian civilization is an
essential part of our spiritual life ? It seems to
me that the progress of the soul demands a larger
field. Each individual soul, without regard to
civilization or scientific attainments, must settle
the great question of life for itself, and rise in the
spirit realm of thought, as in the physical, by its
own individual effort. It is not alone the historic
Christ, but the glorified Christ, whom we need
to-day, — the Christ spirit, and consciousness that
this spirit exercises its regenerating power upon
all who by faith and trust follow the Christ spirit
in the soul, though they may be those we term
uncivilized, and who ma}^ never have heard of the
historic Christ, and also upon those who lived
before Christ's advent into the world.

The Christ spirit was in the world before Jesus
was born, and his death did not take the Christ
life from us. The mistake we make is in looking
at the material or personal instead of the spiritual
or impersonal.

A feeling of dependence and a desire to wor-
ship are inherent in the minds and hearts of the
people of all nations. The pagan as well as

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 61

Christian nations have formulated their God, and,
I believe, have in some degree consecrated their
lives to his worship. It is true that Christianity
carries with it a civilization which is not found
among pagan nations.

Without being disloyal to the church, or sacrifi-
cing any principle, can we not afford to exercise
and express a larger faith, a greater spirit of har-
mony, a feeling of Christian brotherhood, which
will abolish the petty differences or sectarian feel-
ings now existing among Christian sects, and in-
spire a feeling that everything that belongs to
human life belongs also to each individual ? The
gospel of truth is so vast, so grand, and so far-
reaching, that it cannot be confined to any local-
ity, or subject to any physical condition in life, or
confined to any degree of civilization.

The heathen nations have no occasion to boast
of their civilization ; but their souls may be filled
with religious awe, and they have the guidance of
that "Light that lighteth every man." They may
not be able to give a scientific description of their
God ; they may need in their worship the aid of
images to direct their thoughts through nature up
to nature's God, while church creeds and dogmas,
stained glass windows and tall steeples, I fear,
have to a certain extent become idols for the more
cultivated Christian.

62 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

The heathen nations need all our missionary
efforts to Christianize and elevate their condition ;
but as " God is no respecter of persons," and as
each individual is worthy or unworthy according
to his spiritual standing in the sight of God, who
shall say that the worship of the ' one we call
heathen may not be as pure and as acceptable in
the sight of God as that of the Christian ?

We all desire that truth that makes us free,
however much Ave may differ in our methods in
striving for it. Joy comes to the sensitive soul
with the faintest whisperings of hope. At other
times deep sorrow seems to almost overwhelm us
with its dark pall. In this conflict of soul we
sometimes shrink from the sympathy of others,
and feel that —

" The heart knoweth its own sorrow,
And a stranger entereth not into its joys."

The struggle of the soul to free itself from the
bondage of the carnal mind is too sacred for the in-
terference of others. Each individual soul has also
its own peculiar way of discerning spiritual things.
This is well illustrated by Whittier in his descrip-
tion of the visit of Jesus to Mary and Martha.

"When He who, sad and weary, longing sore
For love's sweet service, sought the sisters' door,
One saw the heavenly, one the human guest ;
But who shall say which loved the Master best ? "

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 63

Is it not time that we throw off class distinc-
tions in society, and useless forms and ceremonies
in the church, and appreciate more the true Chris-
tian spirit, without regard to caste, culture, or civ-
ilization ? A religious life and character are far
more important than dogmas.

The soul undeveloped in spiritual knowledge
feels inadequate to cope with the realities of that
life which opens before him. He feels his need
of assistance or protection from some power be-
yond his own. He is impelled to worship some-
thing that he feels is above him, or the work of
his own hands. The Indian worships the "Great
Spirit." When the Israelites thought they had
lost Moses, they made a " golden calf." The ten-
dency to worship lies deep in the human heart ;
and people will worship something tangible, some-
thing that their physical senses can recognize, till
they are educated in spiritual understanding, and
look beyond forms and ceremonies, and are able
to grasp in spirit the true and living God.

It is very difficult for the human mind in its
present undeveloped spiritual condition to compre-
hend what is beyond the reach of the physical
senses. It is by no means certain that the masses
to-day do not need in their worship some external
assistance. Many people feel that they can con-
centrate their minds on the worship of God better

64 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

in their church than elsewhere. If so, then the
church is so far to them an assistant, an idol. I
have no doubt that the heathen in their present
condition need something to aid their concentra-
tion of thought, and an image used for that special
purpose becomes to them an important assistant in
their devotions. The worshipping of idols is not
confined to any locality or to any period of time.
I apprehend the heathen are not the only people
who see through a glass darkly. When we see
face to face clearly we shall not require images nor
idols of any kind, but grasp the spiritual without
the aid of the material.

People whose minds have not been enlightened
by spiritual knowledge do not like to take the re-
sponsibility of thinking for themselves in religious
matters. It is much easier for the heathen to bow
before their idols than to study and develop their
spiritual nature for themselves. It is easier for
people to adopt without study a creed, and rely
upon the priest to explain the dogmas of the
church they have chosen, than to take the respon-
sibility of thinking for themselves. This lack of
true thought and spiritual development in the soul
of the individual tends to distort Christianity,
and diminish the spirituality of the church.

Far be it from me to detract from the good
accomplished by the church in enlightening the

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 65

conscience and purifying the thoughts and lives
of the multitudes who come under its influence. I
only wish to see the spiritual power so extended
as to reach and enlighten the minds of all. But
I fear that the creeds and dogmas which seem to
fetter free individual thought, and cause people to
rely more upon the interpretation of their pastor,
are inadequate to meet the demands of the present
age. We should not attempt to limit or establish
a boundary to the human mind, but direct thought
to the true spiritual nature of man and his rela-
tion to his Maker. A feeling of personal respon-
sibility, self-reliance, and independent thought is
necessary to unfold our religious power, and de-
velop true Christian manhood.

The great difficulty in treating things of the
spirit lies in the lack of spiritual education and
spiritual discernment of the people, and also in
not having language to express spiritual things.
We know that our physical senses cannot be relied
upon when we go beyond the realm of the physi-
cal universe. We also realize the fact that in the
study and discussion of subjects pertaining to the
complex nature of man our language is very
unsatisfactory when we go beyond the range of
natural things. And yet we all know that God's
image and God's man, made in his image, must be
spiritual ; they are therefore beyond all physical

66 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

tests or examinations by physical means. In
these facts we find the mystery that surrounds
the doctrines of Christ, which are all spiritual ;
hence we see why our physical senses cannot ex-
plain or account for the origin and power of
things connected with spirit.

With these facts before us we should not pre-
sume by physical means to decide as to the divin-
ity of Christ, or to analyze the principles of
Christianity. Physical science has no standing in
the realm of spirit, and cannot grapple with the
spiritual order of the universe. We must there-
fore look beyond the facts of our physical life for
the true ideals or aspirations, out of which come
the belief in God, and the ultimate triumphant
destiny of the race.

If human logic and the physical sciences afford
no absolute satisfaction to the soul, we must out
of the needs and the facts of our very existence
reach above and beyond the physical, and allow
our spiritual aspirations, which are stronger and
deeper than anything the world can afford, to give
us the unerring consciousness that we are to walk
by spiritual faith, and not by physical sight. The
exercise of this faith compels us to assume the
Christian life as a part of our own real existence.

In our present state of civilization we live in
constant conflict with the physical as well as

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 67

moral laws. We realize this fact by the conse-
quences which follow their violation.

God may have designed that we should use the
powers of nature to propel our machinery and do
our bidding. But, if we take the risk, we should
not question God's providence when we suffer the
consequence. We know that when we increase
the pressure of steam in our boilers we subject
ourselves to greater danger. When we ascend in
a balloon, we make ourselves liable to come down
in obedience to the law we have violated. By
great pressure water is forced through our build-
ings against the law of gravitation. But, as all
the works of man are imperfect, the pipes in
which the water is confined are liable to burst,
and our dwellings to be flooded. The water, then,
instead of serving us, becomes our master, and we
suffer the consequences.

All will remember the terrible disaster, or acci-
dent as it was called, at Johnstown, Pa., a few
years ago, by the breaking of the dam at the out-
let of a lake where a large body of water had been
kept back against the universal law of gravitation.
The people had received great benefit as they
thought in running their mills, but they paid the
penalty. The dam gave way, the rush of water-
overwhelmed and destroyed the city, and I think
about four thousand lives were lost.

68 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

We wonder at the providence of God in per-
mitting such terrible disasters, little realizing the
fact that they are the result of our own conduct.
Shall we cast reproach upon our Maker because we
reap what we have sown? Shall God suspend the
laws of gravitation for " presumptive man " ?

"When the loose mountain tumbles from on high,
Shall gravitation cease if you go by ? "

It is very difficult for us to reconcile such
calamities with God's goodness and care. But
we must remember that in the great variety
of God's laws each may have its own penalty.
And yet from our standpoint it is difficult to un-
derstand how God in his wisdom can allow the
good and virtuous to suffer by such disasters, or
the virtuous poor to starve for the want of food
in a land of plenty.

" But sometimes virtue starves while vice is fed.
What then ? Is the reward of virtue bread ?
That vice may merit; 'tis the price of toil.
The knave deserves it when he tills the soil."

A prominent writer in one of our popular maga-
zines says, "There is a very true and serious
sense in which alcoholism is a disease, and in
which sensuality in all its varieties is a good deal
more a matter of body than it is of heart. Con-

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 69

siderable of what used to be known as wicked-
ness pure and simple is coming to be referred to
the body, and recognized as bodily defects or
bodily degeneracy." This involves the question
of human accountability, which I supposed was
settled in the minds of most persons. It has gen-
erally been considered that the man God created
in His own image must be spiritual, and the essen-
tial and responsible part of our complex nature.
We have good authority for believing that the
physical body is mortal, and it is generally be-
lieved that the spirit is immortal ; if so, I do not
see how they can share the responsibility. There
cannot be two responsible captains upon the same
ship at the same time. If the physical alone is
the controlling factor, and responsible for all our
waywardness, if the spirit is dependent entirely
upon the physical, which must soon decay, there
is no ground left for moral law, and our hopes for
existence after the death of the body rest upon a
frail foundation.

Shall we accept this doctrine of Physical Su-
premacy, and relinquish our hope of an eternal
spiritual existence? No, a thousand times no.
Christ says, " I am the light of the world ; he that
believeth in me shall never die." Christ must
here refer to the spirit, and not to the body. It
seems to me that if we were created in God's

70 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

image we must be spiritual ; and this inspires a
feeling or aspiration after God, and an intuitive
knowledge that we are moral beings, and responsi-
ble to our Maker for the proper use of the talents
given us.

If the mind or spirit of man is essential, and the
controlling factor, or, as I believe, is the real man,
the spirit must be responsible ; for no moral wrong
or criminal act can be perpetrated without the
consent of the mind and will, and such consent
involves the moral nature.

The physical defects which often result from
hereditary law, and physical defects from accident,
or those incidental to old age, are the only defects
of which we have any knowledge. If the spirit
or real man does not have proper organs through
which to manifest itself, it is no proof that the
spirit itself is impaired by such physical defects.
The spirit is not dependent upon physical organs
for its existence, but only for its power to mani-
fest itself in physical organisms. The real spirit
of man is not dependent upon the eye for seeing,
nor the ear for hearing. " In God we live, move,
and have our being." We see, study, and under-
stand all moral and religious subjects with the mind,
and not with the material eye. We live in the
spirit, and never use the material senses except in
the study and examination of material things.

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 71

The complex action of body and mind is well
illustrated in the following incident: A little
Sabbath-school girl came to one of my former
pastors, and asked him to explain the difference
between mind and body. " My dear child," said
the doctor, "that is a metaphysical question
which has agitated the greatest scholars all the
centuries. However, I will try to make you un-
derstand. Suppose I strike you a blow on your
head, what then?" — "You will hurt me." — "Me,
what do you mean?" — "Why, hurt my body, I
suppose." — " Now, suppose I say, Blanche, you
are a naughty girl." Her eyes flashed, the tears
began to fall. " What is the matter ; I have not
touched your body." — " Oh, but you hurt me so."
— " What do you mean by me ? " — " Oh, I see, I
see ; you touched my mind by simply saying some-
thing." We perceive how separate mind and
body are when we hear or read a sentence that
will cause grief, sadness, ay, pain.

Some have taken the ground that if man does
wrong, while God is not directly responsible for
not preventing him from doing the wrong, He will
in some way excuse him from the responsibility.
If such logic is tenable, and is to become the
standard of moral action, if drunkenness, sensu-
ality, and all social evils and crimes, are purely
physical acts, the spirit man certainly cannot be

72 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

held responsible for the consequences. When we
relinquish our moral accountability, and treat all
our crimes as physical diseases, we may release
our clergymen from further duty, convert our
churches into hospitals, and give ourselves into
the hands of the doctors of medicine.

I believe there is an intuitive feeling in every
human soul that man is in some way culpable for
his wrong act; that physical deformity or the
depravity of the human heart cannot excuse us
from the claims of the gospel, and our duty to
God and our fellow-men.

If we have inherited physical inharmonious con-
ditions, which render our approach to God more
difficult, our individual conflicts with the world
more trying, we must exercise more faith ; for God
has given to every one who will accept his offer
an opportunity when, by the power of his own
will and " promised grace," he may be redeemed
and saved from the effects of all such apparently
unfavorable conditions. However obscure our
spiritual discernment, the love of God is able to
enkindle in our hearts a divine light which will
show us the true spiritual meaning of life and
duty, and dispel much of the mystery which is
supposed to surround the Christian religion.

In our time, the tendency is to make gods of
Culture, Civilization, and Sociology. As gods,

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 73

they are mighty, but they are not Almighty ; and
we shall find, if they are worshipped as gods, and
have not the gospel of peace for their foundation,
they will lead their followers into the wilderness
of doubt, and impel them into the gulf of material-
ism. The teachings of Christ are all spiritual,
and so are the aspirations after God which come
welling up from the depths of every living soul.
This intuition, or language of soul, is the true
light, and deals directly with the spirit of man.
It is the literature and the science of the soul;
it is the philosophy and the logic of the spirit, and
the language in which the soul of man alone can
read the truth of eternal life. This is the doctrine
which Christ taught, the creed by which he lived,
the light by which he sought to show man how
to live in the spirit, and to be elevated to the
plane of thought on which man was created, and
on which he should live to-day.

It has been shown that each individual is an
important factor in society ; that good society
depends upon the goodness of the individuals
composing it. We have also found that

SOCIALISM

upon a material basis is impracticable, if not im-
possible. By socialism we mean an equal dis-
tribution of all human products among all men.

74 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

This proposition to divide may seem plausible
to some, especially to such as have no ambition
to provide for themselves ; but it is easy to see
that the equality of right which we now all pos-
sess would be destroyed in our effort to establish
equality of condition. God, who creates all
things, is infinite in all his works. He creates
in infinite variety, and never duplicates anything.
Everything is created with equal rights, but the
conditions are endless in their variety. The trees
which constitute the forest all have equal rights
to the sunshine and the rain, equal liberty to
grow, and yet their conditions are very different.
No one proposes to divide the strength of the
oak with the sapling, and make all trees equal
in condition as in their rights.

The same endless variety in conditions exists
everywhere ; and I repeat, that an equal division
of the products of man's industry, without regard
to the rightful claim of such industry, would not
only destroy the equality of rights, but it would
destroy all incentive to labor. There would be
no object in accumulating wealth ; there would be
no money to support our government, our public
system of education, or our higher institutions of
learning ; and the stagnation which must follow
would soon turn the civilization of the world
back toward barbarism.

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 75

" He who will not work shall not eat " is the
great law of love, aimed at inactivity, God's only
cure for laziness. Men who will not labor with
brain or muscle may vegetate, but can hardly be
said to live. It is true that people may maintain
a sort of existence on the earth in a barbarous or
semi-barbarous state without great exertion. But
it requires great energy, great industry with both
brain and muscle, and a large amount of money,
to support a high state of civilization.

Of course the aged and constitutionally weak
have a special claim upon our sympathy and upon
our common care. The distribution of all things
to the weak and unfortunate must be made by the
inspiration of love, and not under the constraint
of laws. Any civic or legal measure to equalize
human conditions would result in the destruction
of the incentive and power of production, and no
less in the final extinction of human sentiments,
involving humanity itself.

If in a spiritual plane socialism means an equal
distribution of virtues and Christian graces, it
would be equally impossible, and radically so, as
division of virtues would be more difficult than
division of property. Nothing so harms any
human being as receiving something for nothing.
An equivalent should be rendered, more for the
good of the recipient than for the good of the

76 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

giver. This equivalent may be given in heartfelt
thanks, in service, or substance.

I think the conscious love of Christ in the heart,
filling the whole being with wisdom and guid-
ance, is the only agency that will accord to every
man equality of rights, not under law, but under
love, and thus meet the necessities of all men
without destroying their manhood. Self-help,
aside from God's help, is the best help a man can
have, and then he will not be helped into helpless-
ness. Actuated by the love of God, we would
help men as God helps them, in their extremity ;
that is, when they have done their best, and come
to their extremity by doing their best. Man's ex-
tremity is God's opportunity ; and it is ours, who
desire to be godly.

Notwithstanding all these varied facts in human
life, there is a sense in which government and so-
ciety owe something to the individual. When a
man yields what he terms his personal rights for
the good of society, he feels that he is entitled to
claim a share of the mutual benefit which belongs
to such society. This claim of the individual is
really received in the protection and the enjoy-
ment of good society. But I do not see how any
one can claim from government, church, or any
social compact, more of temporal or spiritual good
than he is willing to contribute to its support.

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 77

The good we receive from society in its associate
capacity should be held in trust as really belong-
ing to humanity.

It is true that there seems to be interwoven in
man's nature a selfish feeling, a seeming conscious-
ness of his being his own ; and it is very difficult,
from a material standpoint, to understand how
each man's personality can be his own, and he still
owe himself and all he is to his fellow-men and to
his Creator. This apparent difficulty can be un-
derstood only when we consider the subject from
a spiritual standpoint ; but as we are all essen-
tially spiritual, it is only from the spiritual plane
of thought that we can view anything connected
with our true nature and our relations to our
Maker. We are commanded to " love our neigh-
bor as ourselves." This command is rendered
possible only as we yield our selfish feeling, and
realize that our neighbor is an organic part with
us of the infinity of spiritual existence. When
we realize this fact, we shall begin to understand
the import of Christ's commandment, and come
into the divine realization of the Fatherhood of
God and the brotherhood of man.

Are such attainments beyond the reach of man?
St. Paul says, " The carnal mind is enmity against
God; for it is not subject to the laws of God,
neither indeed can be." Neither is it subject to

78 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

human law ; it is in a state of selfish rebellion
against all law. We may confine the condemned
criminal, but that does not change his moral
nature. The human heart is selfish and depraved,
and does not love God or its neighbor ; and in this
selfish condition we cannot come into peaceful re-
lationship with ourselves or with our God. It is
therefore evident that without a change from car-
nality to spirituality, it is impossible to form a
government, or to organize a society, that can have
sufficient control over the depravity of the human
heart and the human will to preserve harmony,
even among its own members.

Let us make no mistake here ; God makes law,
and everything that does not harmonize with this
unerring law tends to dissonance and disorder.
It is not God's law, but the violation of the law,
that produces the discord. If man would cease to
violate God's law, he would find a remedy for this
dissonant and discordant nature. St. John says,
" He that loveth his brother abideth in the light."
This is a spiritual light which God has implanted,
and is in harmony with his law. If man would
follow this light, it would, by the grace of God,
lead him to a higher and a better life.

Thinking Christians recognize this light, and
believe that there is an abiding faith and power in
this spiritual law as exemplified by Christ. Chris-

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 79

tians look to " Jesus of Nazareth" as the perfect
revealer of this truth. They accept the character
of Christ as the transcendent fact of history ; and
all the demonstrations of his doctrine evince an
ever operative spiritual law, holding all humanity
in its loving embrace. We believe in the ultimate
power of the Christ-spirit to destroy sin and death,
because Christ demonstrated it. The practical
and universal acceptance of the Christ-spirit would
liberate us from all the mental and moral ills
which now distract our minds, and render our
lives and society so discordant. St. Paul says,
"The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death."
Who shall question the experience of St. Paul, or
deny the power of this spiritual law of Christ to
change our carnality to spirituality, and who shall
say that its influence is not within the reach of
all ? And if all would accept it, which is their im-
perative duty, what I have claimed as possible for
man would at once become a realized fact.
The preaching of the gospel in the

CHURCH

is no doubt more scientific and learned than for-
merly; but may it not be so complex and schol-
arly as to be beyond the comprehension of the
masses? People generally have not studied theol-

80 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

ogy, and see little if any good in the creeds and
dogmas of the church. If the church is to encom-
pass the masses, and bring the people into the fold
of Christ, it must embrace a larger field of obser-
vation, and broaden its influence so as to control
the tendency of the people to drift into various
organizations, and multiply theatres, club-houses,
and fraternities, which are becoming rivals of the
church, and dividing the attention of the masses.
People now act more in their associated capacity,
which gives them a feeling of independence.
They are therefore harder to reach and more diffi-
cult to control. Relatively there may not be so
large a portion of the people attending public wor-
ship to-day as formerly, and I think it is true that
our churches do not now retain the same potent
influence over the thoughts and minds of the
masses outside the fold of the church as in times
past.

Fifty years ago, it was a bold man who would
venture to call in question the tenets of the
church, or to criticise any of its sacred rights.
Now they handle the most sacredly guarded
themes without mercy, and seem to think that
nothing is too sacred for their discussion or their
criticism.

We all need the refining influence of the
church to build up character and to keep alive the

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 81

spiritual aspirations of the soul, and prevent us
from falling into a state of indifference upon re-
ligious subjects. To supply this need the church
must go to the people, if the people will not go to
the church. This may seem a little humiliating
to the high-cultured people of our aristocratic
churches. But is it not in accordance with the
practice as well as the teachings of the Master?
God has for some wise purpose placed us in diver-
sified conditions ; but he has given us all equal
rights to all his blessings, and it certainly cannot
be wrong for the children of " Our Father which
art in Heaven" to meet together to glorify "His
Name."

We live in a peculiar age. A feeling of unrest
and religious discontent seems to pervade the en-
tire world. People are dissatisfied with their
social, moral, and religious condition. A species
of worldliness, or materialism, seems to have
absorbed the human mind, till the masses have
become irreligious in their thoughts and feelings ;
and much of the worship in our churches has
become little better than formal in its influence
upon the minds and hearts of the non-churchgoing
public.

With all these irreligious thoughts dominating
our lives, our streets lined with drinking-saloons
and other places of social vice, our bookstores

82 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

containing vile, if not obscene literature, our pub-
lic lectures filled with rose-colored illustrations
too intense for sober facts, our sermons highly
embellished to satisfy a large class, our people in
a state of social upheaval, it almost seems that
the world is in danger of sinking into the gulf of
materialism. This peril is made more apparent
when Ave call to mind the fact that all the disas-
ters which have befallen our race in the past
have been the result of the thoughts of the peo-
ple turning from God, and indulging in unholy
desires and sinful practices.

In order to meet these complicated difficulties
which confront us, we must improve our habit of
thought ; for we know that impure thoughts and
unholy desires lead to irreligious, immoral conduct
and criminal acts. It may be unwise for me to
dwell so much upon the influence of our thoughts ;
but I believe that our neglect at this vital point is
one of the radical defects in our mode of warfare,
and the real cause of our want of success, in our
efforts to civilize and Christianize the world.

As advocates of our religion, we have perhaps
done the best we could to Christianize and spirit-
ualize the world ; and yet the results are far from
being satisfactory. It is true that we have wit-
nessed wonderful advances in religious thought as
well as in the arts and sciences. It is also true

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 83

that evil habits, social vices, and crimes have in-
creased ; and with all onr moral influences, includ-
ing church and missionary work, it may be still
an open question whether immorality in its gen-
eral aspect has not a stronger grasp and a more
demoralizing influence upon the civilized world
to-day than ever before.

We find only about one-half the people attend-
ing church service of any kind ; the other half
receiving very little, if any, religious instruction.
What a field for Christian work lies before us !
Truly the harvest is great. Hundreds of thou-
sands of people within our reach, created in God's
image, are hungering and thirsting for the spirit-
ual knowledge which the gospel of Christ offers
free to the world. I cannot believe that the mil-
lions of people would continue in mental and
moral darkness if they were properly instructed in
the things of the Spirit, and knew that God is
their Father, and that in their "Father's house"
there is spiritual food enough and to spare.
Neither do I believe that the tens of thousands
who attend church occasionally, and have heard
something of the gospel of truth, would be con-
tent to imbibe the unhealthy mixtures that are
being poured out over our land, if they knew
where they could obtain the unadulterated gospel
of our loving Saviour.

84 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

The enlightened conscience will not choose
darkness rather than light. Ignorance is not bliss,
and can never satisfy the spiritual cravings of the
human soul. If the masses have been wrongly
educated, and have allowed their thoughts to
wander from God and the true aims of life, they
have no less claim upon our sympathy and upon
our love. The education which the masses have
received does not extend beyond the physical
sciences. They have been taught to depend for
knowledge upon their material senses. Upon this
material plane of thought they are not in a con-
dition to readily grasp spiritual truth.

To reach the masses ignorant of their spiritual
nature, and plunged deeply into the gulf of mate-
rialism, it will be necessary to appeal to their
spiritual natures, and show them that their
troubled souls, through the gospel, may be brought
into harmony with their Creator.

This simple gospel, presented in the spirit of
love and sympathy, has power to create a Chris-
tian atmosphere that will dispel their materialism,
and change their mode of thought from the mate-
rial or carnal mind to that of the spiritual. They
will then not only attend church, but devotedly
join in the songs of redeeming grace and heavenly
love.

The interpretations of Christ's life and character

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 85

are all spiritual; and by following his teaching
and the language of his spirit in the demonstra-
tion of its power, all the events of life are made
spiritual, and all the heritage of the universe be-
comes ours. But to gain this exalted condition
we must overcome our material thoughts, and, in
the spirit of the Master, grow into the Christ-life.
Our wills will then be dominated by his will, and
his spirit will find incarnate expression in our lives.

Do our preachers spiritualize the good things
of the world, and make them enjoyable with spir-
itual life ? St. Paul says (1 Cor. ii. 4), his
"preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and
of power." Who to-day preaches in the demon-
stration of the Spirit and in the power, "healing
the sick, and casting out evil," as Christ did, and
as he commanded his disciples to do, which com-
mand they obeyed ? He also gave assurance that
the same power should attend them that believed.

Is it not true that many of our clergymen to-
day, who claim to preach the gospel of Christ,
deny the power thereof, and in their daily walk
and conversation say to the world that Christ
did not expect that we should live up to his
standard ; that he did not intend that we should
demonstrate as he and his immediate followers did ?

If Christ did not intend his gospel for the

86 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

present day and for all time, why preach it at
all ? If the clergy do not preach Christ's gospel
in its fnlness, how can they expect people to be
interested enough to fill onr churches ? A scien-
tific sermon that denies the demonstration and
the power of the gospel will never satisfy a human
soul hungering and thirsting for the living God.
Lanterns that give light only where the sun of
material science shines are of little service to
those whose spirits are lost in doubt and per-
plexity.

I believe much of the power and spirit of the
gospel is lost because the preachers do not make
the gospel plain and simple, so as to be under-
stood by the masses.

Placing spiritual food above their reach may
be a reason why people do not more generally
attend such services. And yet I think people
express with more freedom their convictions of
religious truth ; and in this way we are getting
much helpful light that was formerly shut out by
the rigid creeds and dogmas which at one time
forbade free inquiry pertaining to religious experi-
ences. Creeds, dogmas, and theories of the church
have been greatly modified; but they are still
stumbling-blocks to the masses, because they are
not understood or appreciated, and therefore tend
to prevent the multitude from attending church,

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 87

or paying that respect which the church ought to
be able to command.

I may have given too much prominence to the
unfavorable influence of creeds. They may with-
in certain limits serve a purpose. A man's creed
is his belief, and any number of persons may for-
mulate an agreement or creed by which they will
be governed. But if they go outside the Bible for
their creeds, they tend to division. Every man
has a belief; and if he chooses to formulate it in
words other than are found in the Bible, such
formulation becomes his creed ; and as all persons
have the same right to formulate creeds for them-
selves, we would have as many creeds as there are
individuals.

Creeds found in the Bible give to everyone a
freedom of thought and action which leads to a
high plane of spiritual life, that harmonizes with
all who believe in the Bible, and formulate their
creed only in the language of Scripture. Peter's
creed was his answer to Christ, " Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God." Martha's
creed was, " Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art
the Christ, the Son of God, which should come
into the world." Philip and the eunuch had a
similar creed.

Creeds or beliefs confined to the Scriptures tend
to unite all believers in the Bible. Creeds formu-

88 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

lated upon language outside of the Bible separate
Christians into various denominations, and give
sanction to people not in the Christian church to
formulate creeds or beliefs for themselves, with-
out regard to the Scriptures. The more we study
and depend upon man-made creeds, the less we
study and depend upon God's word, and the
more license we give to those who do not ac-
knowledge the Scripture as the rule of life.

The principles involved in the Christian religion
have become associated with so many different
sects with apparently conflicting creeds, that the
minds of the people are confused, and do not get
a clear idea or understanding of the simple truths
of the gospel. The masses outside the church are
therefore entitled to some consideration. They
seem to think — and not without some reason —
that the churches with creeds and dogmas which
they do not comprehend are too exclusive for the
common people ; that they were intended for the
favored few, and not for the whole.

Caste in society, and style in living, have be-
come so emphasized as to separate people from
each other, and cause many to look upon our aris-
tocratic churches as pharisaical. The formalities
of

CASTE AND CREED

have become so prominent in society, that the

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 89

common people feel almost excluded from such
churches. The expression of this sentiment has
caused people in different conditions in life, not
only to avoid the churches, but to antagonize the
Christian religion. It does not require a prophet
to see that with such feelings and thoughts occu-
pying their minds, the people will not attend our
churches. A large portion of this multitude of
unprivileged people are eager for the truth, and,
thinking over the social and religious problems of
the day, find they are in a state of dissatisfaction
with themselves, with mankind, and with their
Maker. To find means to bring such people into
proper Christian fellowship is what is needed to-
day. St. John says, " If we walk in the light,
as he [Christ] is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another" (1 John 7).

The time has come when something should be
done to adapt the existing creeds, and adjust the
modes of worship, to the condition of the people
now outside the churches. The feeling of pride
and caste which has been manifested by the
wealthy, and the neglect which has been shown
by our aristocratic churches, have created such a
gulf between them and the masses, that the peo-
ple in their present condition will not attend
these high-toned services. I like to see elegant
churches. I only wish we had enough of them

90 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

to accommodate the whole people, and that they
would all attend such beautiful churches and feel
happy. It is only the idolatry connected with
such churches that is wrong. I do not say that
people worship the edifices, but there is a feeling
among the common people that they are not made
for their use.

It is evident that such churches must make
some concessions before they can reach the masses.
I am not prepared to say what compromise should
be offered. I remember an incident that occurred
many years ago in a country town, where it was
common for children to go with their feet bare
during the summer months, except when they
went church.

There were several families who were too poor
to purchase shoes for their children, and so they
did not attend church. The minister, not being
able to purchase shoes for them, had his own chil-
dren attend church with their feet bare. The
sacrifice was accepted, and the poor children at-
tended church and Sabbath-school with bare feet
and were happy.

Is it not the duty of the Christian church to
make some concessions to these classes of people,
or prepare suitable places of worship, and with
the love of God in their hearts, and a Christian
atmosphere about them, preach to them the simple

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 91

gospel, appealing to their better nature — to that
light which God has implanted in every human
being ?

Simple truth is the supreme force that moves
the world; and I believe the hearts of the multi-
tude would kindle in ready response to such a
presentation of a simple gospel that will enable
them to throw off the bondage of sin, and rise to
a higher and a better life.

I do not say that we need a new or a better
gospel. But I do think that its presentation
should be better adapted to the present mode of
thought and the condition of the masses. While
the truth of the gospel is ever the same, its pre-
sentation may be given from different points.
The world has grown in the last fifty years. The
principle of locomotion is, and always will be, the
same ; yet people prefer the express-train of to-
day to the old stage-coach of fifty years ago. The
principle of communication is, and always will be,
the same ; yet people to-day prefer to use the tele-
phone and the telegraph. What I want to empha-
size, is the fact that the wonderful revolution in
the scientific and business world during the last
fifty years has not been shared by the church in
her methods of reaching and controlling the
thoughts and minds of the masses.

I see no reason why the church should not in-

92 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

stitute an aggressive movement, that shall admin-
ister aid to the people in every condition of life.
I see no reason why gospel truth, though ever the
same, should not be presented in a manner suited
to the times in which we live, and the varied con-
ditions in which we find people to-day. Princi-
ples never change, but modes of expressing them
must change with the changing methods of the
revolving years.

Let the Christian world consider these sugges-
tions, and see if they cannot devise some way of
presenting gospel truth so as to conform to the
present development of the race, and to be com-
prehended by the common people.

We have noticed that the good which a church
ought to accomplish in a community is always
neutralized when there is internal division among
its members. May it not be equally true that the
division of Christ's church into so many denomi-
nations neutralizes its power and its influence over
the minds and hearts of the masses? May not
the divisions of our churches, burdened as they
are by so many creeds and dogmas misunderstood
by the people, be the reason why so many turn
away from the churches in disgust, and fall into
infidelity ?

If it is true that our churches are agreed upon
all essential doctrines, and divide only upon the

BELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 93

non-essential, or npon subjects that are not under-
stood, and entirely of human speculation; if the
failure of the churches to answer the reasonable
expectations of the people, and to command the
respect of the masses, is the result of divisions
upon subjects of human vision only, — I see no
good reason why all Christian churches should not
abandon their literal creeds and speculative the-
ories, and unite upon the fundamental and eter-
nal principles of the gospel. In union there is
strength; and the power of such a union would
awaken unusual interest throughout Christendom,
and kindle each heart into a holy flame. St. John
declares, "He that loveth truth cometh to the
light."

The church could lose nothing by giving up all
speculative theories connected with creeds. The
people recognize the fact that there is no Christian-
ity in sectarianism. Lovers of God and followers
of Christ must have perfect unity, and the bond
of union must be one of faith and love. If the
bond of faith and love binds the church to Christ,
it will also bind the churches to each other. Let
us abandon all non-essentials that tend to divide
Christians.

"For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;
His can't be wrong whose life is in the right."

The forms of worship associated with man-made

94 THOUGHTS FOE THE PEOPLE.

creeds do not satisfy the human soul. Religious
thought and the longings of the spirit have be-
come a powerful factor in our religious life, and
demand a more harmonious and a higher meaning
in our religious worship. The clear rays of spir-
itual thought have already pierced the darkness,
and modified the feeling of persecution which was
so pronounced in the early history of the church.
John Quincy Adams, President of the United
States, when asked to subscribe to the fund of
the Foreign Missionary Societ}', said : " We have
here in our village [Quincy, Mass., the home
of the Adamses] four religious societies. The
sectarian feeling is so strong that the pastors of
these societies are not allowed to exchange pulpits
with each other. I will give as much and more
than any other man to civilize and Christianize
these ministers and the people, so that we can
have Christian fellowship in our own village."

This anti-Christian feeling is passing away, and
it is not uncommon to-da}^ for clergymen of differ-
ent denominations to exchange pulpits. I believe
the time will soon come when the partition walls
between different denominations of Christians will
be removed, and all unite in pseans of grateful
praise and glory to God.

The water of the globe is one great sea, and is
moved by one tide. If the immortal soul or spirit

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 95

of humanity would unite in the universal truth of
God, and, like the ocean, move in union and har-
mony, universal love would rule the world, and
evil would find no resting-place.

The open fold of God's truth is greater than
we can comprehend, but the realization of this fact
should not diminish our faith and our aspiration
after God ; it should rather make us modest, and
tolerant of the opinions of others. God's right-
eousness, which we are commanded to seek first, is
sufficient for us. Creeds and theories may serve
a purpose, but should not be allowed to prevent
unity of feeling and action between Christian
churches. I speak thus freely, for I believe that
church divisions, and the contentions growing out
of them, not only prevent many true Christians
from uniting with the church, but hinder the
masses from paying that respect which is due
to the church of Christ, and which the world
would gladly pay, were the church a unit, and
its members living in the spirit and power of the

The gospel of Christ has proved itself capable
of helping all sorts and all conditions of human
society, and a united church should loudly pro-
claim its saving power. The Master says, " I am
the light of the world, and whosoever believeth in
me shall not abide in darkness."

96 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

It is the light of the gospel that must dispel the
doubt and darkness of the human mind. If we
have the light of this gospel in our hearts, it will
be a light to those about us. A candle does not
shine for its own benefit. All that is luminous in
us is given to direct others as well as ourselves.
A professor in Harvard College, being asked if he
thought God who is holy could see evil, said, " It
would be like an electric light going after a
shadow, and expecting to find it." Light cannot
see darkness, neither can purity see impurity.
Darkness is destroyed by light. So evil vanishes
before pure thought and divine light. " Thou art
of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not
look on iniquity" (Hab. i. 13).

We should study and try to better understand
ourselves and our relations to our Maker, and not
be diverted from the great object of life by argu-
ments, creeds, or opinions of men. The

GREAT FACTS

which lie behind and beyond the creeds and theo-
ries about which men dispute are what is wanted,
and not the creeds and theories themselves. God's
truth is greater than all human speculation ; and
we should not depend for our beliefs upon any
outward conditions, or allow anything to interfere
with our direct communion with God our Father,

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 97

but should, so far as we can, live in the spirit, and
" dwell under the shadow of the Almighty."

We need pure thoughts and holy desires to give
us power in our work for humanity. It is not
merely what a man speaks ; it is the Christ-spirit
behind the words that gives them power. If the
love of God is in our hearts, it will give our words
power, and we shall by our words and our acts
declare the truth of the gospel. We have every-
thing to encourage us in this work. The gospel
is what the world needs. The outburst of joy
from the human heart in all nations and all peo-
ples shows the wonderful love of God to man.
The parable of the lost sheep — in fact, the whole
trend of the Scriptures — shows that God loves the
whole human race ; it proves that there is some-
thing worth loving, even in the most degraded.
Our Saviour says, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto
one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it
unto me." It shows that God has implanted in
every human soul a desire or aspiration for a
heavenly light, — a desire for something better,
for a purer and a holier life.

It seems to me that the Christ-spirit, through
the influence of a united church, might reach and
answer to the holy desires and aspirations of the
people, and by promised grace change their minds
and thoughts from the carnal to the spiritual.

98 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

The reception of the gospel by the masses would
not only direct their minds heavenward, but en-
able them to control their appetites, passions, and
all sinful habits, and restore peace and harmony to
society, and prevent the misery and degradation
which now hold in bondage the great mass of the
people of the world.

Wealth, position, and the pride of life, deter
people from consecrating their lives and their sub-
stance to God for the good of humanity. People
are frequently found who maintain outwardly a
consistent religious life, and apparently do their
duty to society, who, from some cause, fail to im-
press the Christ-spirit upon those about them.
The young lawyer was so circumspect that Christ
loved him, and yet he was not right on the ques-
tion of riches. Job was a just man. He was a
prosperous man. He had gained his riches hon-
estly, as the world goes, and had tried to persuade
himself that they belonged to himself alone, and
so had not consecrated them to humanity. But
there came a time when he realized that his riches
were given him in trust, and really belonged to
God and humanity. When he became conscious
of this fact, he humbled himself. He had long
known that he would have to come to this point
of self-nothingness ; for he says, " The thing that I
feared has come upon me." Had Job consecrated

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 99

himself and his riches, and been in perfect oneness
with God, he wonld not have been afraid of being
brought low. Fear is but another name for a want
of confidence in God. " Perfect love casteth out
fear."

I apprehend that we are not to-day free from
idols of some kind, and it may be the same with
our churches. They are rich and prosperous, and
the world thinks they exhibit more or less pride
and vanity. But pride must have its fall, whether
in the individual or in the church, and come down
as Job did, before the world will be conquered
for Christ. The hearts of all true Christians must
beat in unison with the great heart of God and
the world of mankind.

The evangelical churches, I believe, agree upon
all essential questions. I have been trying to see
if I could find any good reason why they should
not unite. I do not propose to go into the past,
or consider the various causes which resulted in
their separation. I only wish to discover, if I can,
what prevents our churches to-day from uniting.
It seems to me that it is to a large extent the
"worship of idols," — wealth, worldly ambition,
perhaps a little pride and vanity. But I feel quite
sure that the partitions between Christian churches
are not composed of " pure Christianity," and
therefore may be removed without endangering

100 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

the foundation of our Christian religion. The
factions into which Christian people and Christian
churches are divided, and the feeling which they
often exhibit, are not animated by the love of
Christ or love of Christianity, in any true sense.
I think Christians are kept from uniting by the
influence of those who may have reached, and
who are unwilling for the sake of union to yield,
their high positions in their own church ; by those
who have pride and vanity as idols in their hearts ;
by those who have never conformed to the Divine
Spirit, or become absorbed in the oneness and all-
ness of God.

A similar condition of affairs is often found in
the political arena. A few ambitious or designing
men often disturb the peace and harmony of a
party, State, or nation. A divided church can
never be secure from the assaults of the enemy.
The only effectual Avay to stop the warfare is to
conquer a peace by uniting for Christ and over-
coming the world.

Let me give an illustration of the weakness of
a divided church. Suppose these United States
were not united as a nation, but each State acted
independent and alone : they would exert little or
no power or influence in the world, but would be
at the mercy of any or every foreign power. It is
the union that gives us peace and protection at

BELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 101

home, and power and influence among the nations
of the earth.

Let all Christian denominations discard their
creeds and dogmas which now separate them, and
unite for Christ, and I believe the powers of dark-
ness will flee before the light of a united pres-
entation of the gospel of truth.

We cannot have organic unity till we have
unity of thought, till we become Christian enough
to have our thoughts centre upon Christ, and abide
in his love. When we arrive at this point in
spiritual development, we shall not need the letter
as expressed in organic churches and societies ; for
we shall be one in Christ in the unity of spirit, in
the bond of peace.

There is another point upon which I have a
word to say. When a small suburb of a city, or
a country village, shows signs of growth and en-
terprise, some one of our Christian denominations
forms a society, and builds a small house of wor-
ship. This is commendable. But before there
are inhabitants enough to fill the house, some
other denomination forms a society, and builds
another place of worship ; and it often happens
that we have two or three small churches in a
location where there are scarcely enough church-
going people to fill one. As a result, we have
thousands of small, weak churches all over the

102 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

land, which really exert very little influence upon
the minds and hearts of the people outside of the
membership of the churches. There is often con-
tention and bitter feelings generated between the
different societies, by which they not only lose
the confidence of the community, but in the exhi-
bition of unchristian feelings often create doubt
in the minds of some as to the truth of the Chris-
tian religion.

Did it ever occur to the reader that one strong,
united church, in place of these several opposing
small ones, would unify all Christian people, and
command the respect of the community, and might
by its united, harmonious, and heavenly influence,
Christianize the whole population ? Again, such
united action would not only tend to unite and
harmonize our people, but require only one church
where we now have two or three, leaving for ac-
tive service elsewhere clergymen for missionaries,
and money enough to build a church and sup-
port the gospel in every hamlet in the heathen
world.

Another source of weakness is found in the fact
that the population of great cities is constantly
changing. The locality of the wealthy is liable to
be invaded by the intermediate classes. The rich
feel the intrusion, and begin to leave for what they
suppose a more desirable locality. A rich and aris-

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 103

tocratic church may by such means become a poor
church, and must follow the wealthy families, or
adapt itself to the changing needs and require-
ments of the people in its immediate vicinity. It
is sad, in a Christian community, to see a church
struggling for support, with empty pews, in a
densely populated part of a great city.

I think the feeling of caste which plays such
a conspicuous part in our community to-day keeps
the common people from attending church, and
causes more trouble and dissatisfaction, more so-
cial, political, and religious discord, and more dis-
sensions in our churches, than anything else.

If our rich churches, instead of tending to close
spiritual corporations, would throw off the feeling
of caste, open their doors, and bring the churches
into touch with the people in their immediate
neighborhood, they would soon acquire a perma-
nent hold upon the masses. We read that the
"common people heard Christ gladly;" and I
think, under proper conditions, the people can be
brought to the churches, and become interested in
church work.

People differ upon minor points ; but true reli-
gion will never lose its hold upon the hearts of
men, for it is the spiritual expression of life itself.
Religious thought is the fabric into which reli-
gious character is being woven; and we cannot

104 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

afford to allow the churches to lose their hold
upon the hearts of the people.

Why not, in view of these facts, abandon man-
made creeds and dogmas of the church, and make
the presentation of the gospel " Yea, yea," and
" Nay, nay," and preach the plain, simple, unadul-
terated word of Jesus Christ, which all can under-
stand, and all will appreciate? It is noticeable
that all the invitations to a Christian life by Christ
were calls to follow him in his personal living, and
not calls to subscribe to a creed or dogma de-
scriptive of his system of religion. His plea was
always to suffering humanity, " Come unto me."
No one can misunderstand this simple gospel.

Why not preach this gospel, not only from the
pulpit, but from private dwellings, from the street-
corners, and if necessary from the housetops, till
a Christian atmosphere is created that shall per-
meate every heart ? We shall then be required to
build larger churches, and they will be tilled with
anxious listeners ; and our clergymen will not
be required to preach to empty pews or half-filled
houses, as at present. Dr. Spurgeon, when asked
how he managed to always have a full house, said,
" I always intend to fill the pulpit, and then I can
trust the people to fill the pews ;" and I think he
was never disappointed.

In order to Christianize the masses, and bring

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 105

them into religious fellowship, we must overcome
the atmosphere of materialistic thought which now
obscures their minds. This will require a large
measure of the Christ-spirit in the hearts of the
preachers and in the churches. It will demand
that we give up churchanity, and substitute Chris-
tianity. Christians are in the world to purify its
materialistic atmosphere, and infuse the Christ-
spirit into the minds and hearts of the people, not
only in the churches, but enough to fill every pal-
ace and every hovel in the land, and flow out into
the hedges and the ditches, and command the re-
spect of all people.

When a pure, Christian atmosphere, with its
sweet and harmonizing influence upon the thoughts
and hearts of the people, is established, they can-
not resist the heavenly spirit of such a gospel, but
will join with the churches in songs of hallelujah.

Is the picture I have drawn too good to be
true, — too good to be realized in our day ? Is it
too much to believe that the plain, simple gospel
of Christ will be understood and appreciated by
the masses when properly presented in an atmos-
phere of Christian love ? Every thinking mind
will see that this gospel is what humanity needs
to lift it out of the material philosophy of our
day, and fix minds and hearts upon God and
future destiny.

106 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

It is easy to see that the advance of society, and
the more correct modes of thought, are breaking
down the old partitions between religious denomi-
nations, and substituting liberty of thought for
the authority of tradition. There is in our nature
an inherent desire for truth and for freedom of
thought and action.

"He is the freeman whom truth makes free,
And all are slaves beside."

The spirit of individual investigation is becom-
ing universal. We may direct, but we cannot
stop, the growth of ideas upon matters of religious
controversy. Men will think; and in the present
age of investigation the desires and aspiration of
most of the people are after truth. We can edu-
cate and regulate modes of thinking, but we can-
not suppress the light which the liberty of thought
is diffusing throughout the world. We shall
never gain a permanent hold upon the hearts and
minds of the people if we deny them the right to
think for themselves. The universal cry of the
soul is for greater freedom of thought, and a more
intelligent, conscious realization of that truth
which makes us free. " Ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free."

The foundation of the gospel of Christ cannot
be endangered by any ordeal that can be advanced

RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 107

against it. Its truth may be severely tested, but
it will receive no harm.

"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again;
The eternal years of God are hers.
But error wounded writhes in pain,
And dies among his worshippers."

There is no danger that speculative thought
will carry the minds of the people away from the
fundamental principles of the gospel while we
adhere to the teachings of Christ, and make our
thoughts and sympathies so broad and deep, and
so sweet, that the great heart of humanity will
respond to its influence. We need have no fear
of evil consequences through the manifestation of
the power of truth upon the human mind. It is
only ignorance, or want of a realization of the
existence of such truth, that allows the minds of
the people to wander into the shades of infidelity.

No one can be truly Christian who does not
receive Christ in his heart, or truly moral and
religious who does not, with the help of God, turn
his thoughts into acts, and thus work out his own
salvation.

True thoughts of God and his works will al-
ways prove an inspiration, and make us true and
honest in the transactions of our every-day life.
But we must accept spiritual things in God's
appointed way, seeking first the kingdom of God

108 THOUGHTS FOE THE PEOPLE.

and his righteousness, and put our minds, so far as
we may, in harmony with God's will. We have
good reason for believing that with our spiritual
bodies all the good things of the world will be-
come spiritualized and added unto us, and our
wills become merged into God's will, when the
universe is opened to us. Let us never depre-
ciate the good things of the world : they are part
of God's universe, and in due time they will be-
come spiritualized ; and the struggle between the
world and the higher spiritual life will end in the
fulfilment of the gospel of "Peace on earth and
good will to men."

" The longer I live, and the more I see
Of the struggle of souls towards the heights above,
The stronger this truth conies home to me,
That the universe rests on the shoulders of love;
A love so limitless, deep, and broad,
That men have renamed it, and called it God."

THOUGHT IN EDUCATION.

The family is the realm of thought, and the
birthplace of both body and mind. In the family
a trend of associations is commenced which is
imperishable ; habitudes into which the very soul
is moulded ; impressions engraven which no lapse
of time can obliterate, but which eternity itself
will confirm and perpetuate.

In childhood and youth we should see that the
mind receives only good impressions. No matter
how long we may live, we never get away from
the effects of early impressions. It is better to
watch the education of children, and know that
there is only right forming in the mind, thus pre-
venting the regrets and disappointed efforts in
trying to reform them in after life.

It is often a query with parents when the edu-
cation of their children should commence. Dr.
Holmes, when asked this question, said, " At
least two hundred years before they are born."
This is a wise answer, for it is true that we are
all largely the product of the past. Our physical

109

110 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

and mental conditions are in a great measure
woven for us. With these facts before us, we
can realize the importance of educating our chil-
dren in correct modes of thinking. Children in
a normal condition require an education that will
give to them a harmonious development of their
bodily functions, intellectual faculties, and their
spiritual natures. The abnormal condition of
children should be corrected so far as possible
in their education, to prevent the development
of the tendency to physical and moral wrongs in
after life.

When we realize that normal conditions never
produce abnormal results, that all abnormal con-
ditions are the results of present or past conduct
or misconduct, I think I am justified in saying
that children have a right to a harmonious exist-
ence, and that parents who indulge in immoral
thoughts and unholy desires have a fearful ac-
count to settle with their children, as well as with
their God.

Persons who are well born, well bred, and
properly educated, will be found pursuing some
legitimate business, and will always succeed to
some extent in making the community in which
they live, and the world, better for their having
lived in it; while in those born with the scars
of hereditary vice, the standard of human excel-

EDUCATION. Ill

lence is lowered, and it may be ver}^ difficult,
with all our education, physical training, and
moral culture, to prevent the cropping out of the
moral crookedness inseparably connected with an
abnormal condition at birth.

In the home education of children their sur-
roundings are potent in developing the mind and
in cultivating their tastes, either for that which is
refined and beautiful, or that which is coarse and
uncomely. The rooms, with their furnishings
and their accessories, represent the culture, of the
family; and we look upon them as important in
the education of life. It is these early scenes, or
impressions of home life, that are displayed upon
the inner walls of the mind, — pictures that never
fade. There is no more enduring service we can
render children than to furnish them with pleas-
ant mental pictures upon which the mind can rest
with delight in after years.

It makes a great difference in after life whether
the rooms and environments in which children
grow up are beautiful and cheerful, or uncouth
and ill cared for. The relation of these things to

HUMAN LIFE

is what gives dignity and poetry to our experi-
ences in later years, or makes it desirable for
reasonable people to give thought to the subject.

112 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

Beautiful rooms not only improve our taste for
the beautiful, but they have a real vital relation
to life, and hold an important part in education,
and deserve more consideration than they receive.
It is, therefore, no trifling matter whether we
hang poor pictures on our walls or good ones ;
whether the decorations of our rooms are tasteful
or unsightly. We might almost as well say it
makes no difference whether our personal asso-
ciates are cultured or ignorant.

Another important thing to be observed in edu-
cation is the selection of books. The minds of
children are easily acted upon ; and whatever is
allowed to affect them should be of a moral or
religious character, or at least upon subjects cal-
culated to impress the mind with scenes of true
life. I do not say that children should read noth-
ing lively or interesting. But when they have
become accustomed to dwell in the airy regions of
fancy by reading immoral or

SENSATIONAL NOVELS,

or become morbid by corrupt and debasing books,
you may be sure that their minds are infected, and
that errors and irregularities may be the conse-
quences.

We have found that the moral natures of chil-
dren are easily marred by bad influences, and their

EDUCATION. 113

tastes for moral and spiritual development easily
perverted. We have also found that children are
equally susceptible to good influences ; and as they
are subjected constantly to these varied conditions
of society, it is all the more important that they
should be always under the control of moral and
religious training, so that their minds be not left
to drift upon the sea of sentiment, to lose all guid-
ance except the bent of their own inclinations.

If we desire to improve society, we must improve
the education of our children, upon whom, as men
and women, all social future conditions depend.
This proposition requires no argument, for we all
know that as we sow so shall we reap.

Every human soul brought into the world is
more or less dependent for its character and suc-
cess upon the kind and the amount of education
it receives. The mind should not be used as a
receptacle for the storage of intellectual facts, so
much as a vital germ for development into mental
and moral fruitage.

In pursuing educational work in our

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS,

we must not forget that children, as well as adults,
have various faculties ; that they have appetites,
passions, and propensities, and are subject to the
influences of many habits and vices ; that their

114 HOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

minds are easily impressed, and early impressions
are the most lasting; and that, if Ave allow irre-
ligious, improper, and imperfect education, or
unfavorable surroundings, to impress their minds
with erroneous sentiments or impure thoughts or
unholy desires, we may be sure such thoughts
and desires will materialize, and it will be almost
impossible by later training to prevent their de-
velopment into irregular conduct in after life. It
is, therefore, of the utmost importance in the edu-
cation of children, that we give to their minds
a moral and religious inclination which will tend
to insure good citizenship. Young people will
think. We cannot suppress the liberty of thought,
but we can in early life educate and direct their
modes of thinking. The faculty of

THINKING CORRECTLY

is very important for the young, as it forms a
habit which will be of great service in after life.
The mind should dwell only upon thoughts that
are based in truth and real life. The importance
of giving right direction to the thoughts of chil-
dren and youth will be apparent when we realize
that their character in after life depends upon
whether they think and live in the spirit, or de-
scend to the animal plane of thought.

In studying our spiritual nature, we must keep

EDUCATION. 115

this fact in view, and also not confound the words
we use relating to the material with those relating
to the spiritual. By so doing, we shall be able to
better understand the science of spirit, and com-
prehend each other.

Among writers and teachers in the higher de-
partment of education, we often hear of conflicts
between

SCIENCE AND RELIGION.

But true science and true religion must be in har-
mony, for in absolute truth there can be no con-
flict. It is only upon subjects that are not
understood, or subjects of human speculation, that
men differ. True science is a knowledge of things
in their causes, and must include the spiritual as
well as the material ; for the physical is only a
manifestation of the spiritual.

Scientists should not confine their labors and
researches to the material, but should embrace
also the realm of the spiritual; they should re-
member that all external forms of religion, civili-
zation, government, and all our institutions, are
but the outward expression of the thoughts of the
people in the present, as well as antecedent
thought; that they all belong to the things that
are seen, and are therefore temporal ; for it is
uthe things that are not seen that are eternal,"
and which demand the attention of educators and

116 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

scientists as well as the clergy. In this conflict
between science material and " science spiritual,"
scientists who confine their studies and demon-
strations to the physical may well bow their heads,
and seek the wisdom and the guidance of the
spirit ; for the material things upon which they
depend are but the materialization of the spiritual,
and their labor and investigations have been ex-
pended upon the physical effects of a

"SPIRITUAL CAUSE,"

which lies beyond their present conception. It is
evident that physical science can be relied upon
only in a material sense ; and therefore its criti-
cisms upon the Scriptures or the religious nature
of man will be found void, having no status and
no application in the realm of spirit. Here we
find the reason why scientific thought and reli-
gious thought do not at present harmonize. It is
not because there is a conflict between true science
and true religion, but because science relies upon
the physical senses for its demonstration, and does
not comprehend the law of spirit. We need an
education which shall develop our spiritual na-
ture ; a science reaching the invisible as well as
the visible regions of the universe ; a science allied
to the higher realms of causation, as well as the
spheres of physical results ; a science that compre-

EDUCATION. 117

hends the spiritual as well as the physical, and
apprehends life from a spiritual standpoint, ancl
thus harmonizes the complex theories of the hu-
man race. This is the true science of religion,
and finds common ground of concord under the
law of "the spirit of the life in Christ Jesus."
So true science, instead of being opposed to the
Christian religion, becomes its principal support.

A sound body is an important prerequisite to
the physical manifestation of a vigorous intellect.
But we have instances where superior intellectual
power has been manifested in bodies that were
apparently very inferior.

Alexander Pope was a deformed and inferior
man physically. iEsop had a body one would
think hardly capable of holding a spirit. And yet
JEsop's Fables and Pope's Essay on Man hold an
enviable position in the literature of the world
to-day.

Physical organs are necessary to enable the
spirit to hold converse with the material world,
but they are not necessary for its existence.

We need have no controversy with ourselves,
or with others, about the mysterious union be-
tween our bodies and our spirits. What object
God has in giving us material bodies, and sur-
rounding us with earthly conditions, I know not.
It is enough for me to trust that the real man,

118 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

created "in God's image," will be provided with
a body, if one is necessary, suited to his needs.
I believe, however, that the spirit body we now
have is the real body in all its forms and func-
tions, and that this spirit body is clothed upon
by our physical body in some way mysterious to
us, for the purpose of enabling the spirit man to
hold converse with physical things connected with
our earthly life.

Evidences of this complex nature of man are
found in the fact that the physical senses give us
no knowledge of God or the real man. Does the
body dictate to the mind ? Do the feet walk ?
Do the eyes see? Do the ears hear? Or is the
mind the ruling power, and the physical senses
the organs through which the mind or spirit acts ?
The spirit thinks and feels through the brain
and nerves. The physical senses and functions
are the organs of the spirit, through which it is
enabled to hold converse with the external world,
and under certain conditions to construct or to re-
construct the body after its own thought, for its
own use and purposes. We never depend upon
the material eye in the study of moral, religious,
or metaphysical questions, and in science only
upon subjects which require physical demonstra-
tion. In fact, the mind or spirit uses the material
senses only when it deals with material things.

EDUCATION. 119

When, from accident or other causes, any of
the physical organs or functions of the body cease
to act, or become weakened, or decay from the
effects of age, so they cannot be used, the spirit so
far loses its power to hold converse with the
external world; but this does not prove that the
spirit itself is weakened, or in any way impaired.
When the body finally decays, the spiritual body,
if worthy, is ready for a spiritual mansion.

In pursuing the subject of a perfect education,
let us inquire more particularly into the nature
of man and the motives which govern his actions.

I commence this difficult task by assuming what
I think all admit: that man is possessed of a
threefold nature ; that he is at once an animal,
an intellectual, and a spiritual being ; that he is
both mortal and immortal, therefore both natural,
and in a certain sense, supernatural ; that he has
a place in nature which science may demonstrate,
and a place above nature which the physical
sciences do not reach, — a spiritual nature which
belongs not to the material kingdom, but to the
spiritual kingdom. Scientists may weigh and
analyze the physical, but the spiritual seems be-
yond the influence of their art.

Nature makes man an animal; and when his
animal nature predominates, and triumphs over
the spiritual, he acts and lives for the gratification

120 THOUGHTS FOE THE PEOPLE.

of his physical functions. When man's spiritual
nature predominates and controls, it lifts him
above nature, and he lives for the honor of God
and the good of his fellow-men.

The intellect is a powerful factor in controlling
man's action; and he is so constituted that, whether
he is learned or ignorant, the intellect may give
its entire influence in aid of the animal or in aid
of the spiritual, and by its influence form the
character and control the life of the individual, —

"And make a patriot as it makes a knave."

f
We do to a certain extent apprehend that which

is upon our own plane of life, and also that which

is below us ; but we cannot comprehend that

which is above the plane of our own thought.

Students familiar with the higher mathemat-
ics readily solve problems which are entirely be-
yond the comprehension of those who are familiar
only with common arithmetic. So individuals or
classes of society see and deplore the defects
of character of those below them, and at the same
time fail to comprehend or appreciate the supe-
rior qualities of those who live upon a plane above
them.

Our young men who have received their prin-
cipal education in the streets, and whose associ-
ates are as ignorant as themselves, have little or

EDUCATION. 121

no appreciation of the blessings of a higher civili-
zation ; and it is not strange that they should drift
into drinking-saloons and other places of vice, and
finally become dangerous members of society.

Take, for an illustration, the graduates of high
schools and colleges, who, with enlarged capacities
and high culture, have resources for enjoyment
entirely unknown to the more ignorant, and yet
to many of them the higher or spiritual nature
seems out of the range of their vision; while
those whose natures have been harmoniously de-
veloped have resources for enjoyment entirely be-
yond the comprehension of those whose intellects
only have been enlightened.

Education that develops the muscle and the
intellect at the expense of the moral and the
spiritual, robs the heart of its proper influence,
and makes man angular and discordant, and throws
society out of harmony.

Science is the companion of spirituality, but can
never supersede it. Physical science relates to
the external universe. It develops the intellect,
but cannot satisfy the aspirations of an immortal
being. Its study exalts and enlarges our con-
ceptions, and fills the mind with wonder and ad-
miration, and yet, with all its magnificence, falls
infinitely short of that grander study which teaches
of the soul of man and its relation to its Maker.

122 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

Students who have been studying only the phys-
ical sciences and depending upon their material
senses will be surprised when they turn their
thoughts to the spiritual, and realize that God is
spirit, and that man, made in his image, is spirit
also, and that their study of the physical sciences
has not given them the least knowledge of God
or of their own real self.

" While we look not at the things which are
seen, but at the things which are not seen : for
the things which are seen are temporal; but the
things which are not seen are eternal " (2 Cor.
iv. 18).

From this Scripture we learn that St. Paul was
looking with the mind, or spirit, at things which
are not seen by the material eye. The things that
are seen by the material eye are temporal, because
they belong to the material universe. The things
which are not seen by the material eye, but are
seen by the mind, or spirit, are eternal because
they belong to the realm of spirit.

A perfect education requires that the whole
man be developed. The physical demands suste-
nance ; the intellectual requires the stimulus of
thought. So the spiritual nature demands a cor-
responding spiritual life. All these faculties
should be developed into symmetrical proportion
in our education. In our system of education we

EDUCATION. 123

give too much importance to the material, and
neglect the spiritual. We develop the physical
and intellectual ; but the higher nature, the soul's
life, by which we appreciate the beautiful and the
good, — that power by which we are brought into
divine relationship with our Creator, — is not
given that prominence its importance demands.
It is the exercise and the elevation of our spirits
ual nature, and not the knowledge of physical
science, that sustain the soul, and open the door
to a higher and a better life. Young men, while
studying for intellectual attainment, cannot afford
to do otherwise than look life squarely in the face,
and determine, come what may, to keep their
moral natures pure.

The spiritual and religious natures of man were
created for the worship and adoration of their
Creator, and can be satisfied with nothing else.
To a Christian, it is a sad spectacle to behold
men, created in the

IMAGE OF GOD,

indirectly crushing out God's image in their edu-
cation by developing only the physical and in-
tellectual,— studying the science of earth, and
neglecting the science of heaven and the worship
of God.

If we are educated and live only in the mate-

124 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

rial, Ave shall have nothing to rest upon when the
material fails, as fail it surely will. We live in
the spirit, and not in our bodies. Our bodies
have no life of themselves ; they are only the re-
ceptacles of life, tenements for the soul ; and
the time will come when these bodies will be un-
able to serve us. I do not wish to depreciate the
importance of a sound body; but I do insist that
man requires a

SPIEITUAL, AS WELL AS A SCIENTIFIC
EDUCATION ;

for we must all admit that philosophy of life
which recognizes the great fact that our physical
bodies are made to serve a temporary purpose,
a place of education, a place to prepare for pro-
motion to a higher and better state of being.

And what, let me ask, are our boasted system
of education, our godless schools, doing towards
developing our spiritual nature, and preparing us
for promotion, or to make us worthy of Christ our
Saviour, and the angels of God in heaven ?

Education that leads us to depend upon our
material senses in forming our judgment upon
spiritual things must be wrong, for our physical
senses cannot be so educated as to convey to us

EDUCATION. 125

the least conception of God, who is spirit, or of
our own spiritual nature.

Our education will never enable us to compre-
hend the mystery of God ; but let us educate our-
selves and our children to trust his word, and be
true to his image in which we are created ; walk
in the light, and never be confounded or led
astray by the tendency of the age to cavil at mys-
teries we cannot understand.

The facts of every-day life show how important
it is that our system of education should include
the spiritual, and that our churches and all our
social organizations should unite their moral and
religious forces in human progress, and furnish
the necessary conditions for the harmonious devel-
opment of all classes of society.

This would open to us a field of profound
thought and study, and compel us to grapple with
some of the most difficult problems of the age.
In natural things science may demonstrate our
position by material facts. But when we investi-
gate man in his threefold nature, involving the
higher relations which lie in part, at least, beyond
the limits of finite conception, reason may prop-
erly pay respect to faith ; for we need to seek the
guiding hand, and walk with a wisdom higher
than our own.

When man in his complicated nature is properly

126 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

analyzed and understood, and we arrive at the
fundamental facts involved in the question of edu-
cation, we can possibly explain the many defects
of character in otherwise efficient men. We can
then conceive how men may be sound and of great
ability, and correct in certain directions, and at
the same time weak, if not absolutely wrong, in
others.

A perfect education involves the solution of the
social, moral, and religious problems of our day,
and means something more than human laws and
the teaching of the physical sciences. It requires a

HARMONIOUS DEVELOPMENT

of the race and a higher civilization.

I know it has been said that the question of our
social vices can never be solved by education, that
agitating the subject only increases the trouble,
that man's nature is so complex and obscure
that it can never be reached, and therefore cannot
be harmonized. But under all these coverings
of physical and moral ills, there are spiritual
laws, in obedience to which man may break away
from his evil habits, and rise from this state of dis-
cord and degradation, and by harmonious educa-
tion and spiritual development be lifted into a
clearer light and a purer atmosphere.

Purity of character, freedom from evil habits,

EDUCATION. 127

and the elevation of the individual, are the only
things that will ever insure freedom, peace, and
harmony to the community ; and in proportion as
the unit is elevated above the bondage of evil
habits and immoral practices, will honor and
righteousness prevail in the State and nation.
There is no good reason why the body should not
yield perfect obedience to the demands of a well-
educated mind, to God's image in man.

The solution of the question of education, then,
lies in teaching obedience to the laws and princi-
ples which govern our entire being, — the body
with its appetites and passions, the mind with its
faculties and functions, a knowledge of the higher
spiritual nature, and the harmony of its reciprocal
action in our daily life.

We must not confine our thoughts and actions
to the consideration of any one idea, however
grand it may be. We must not suppose that the
proper education or elevation of a certain class of
society will accomplish the object. " Nature acts
by general, not by partial laws." In individuals,
disease of a limb affects the whole system. In
nations, the effects of ignorance, vice, and dissipa-
tion cannot be confined to individual suffering, to
any locality, or to any class of society.

To make such reform practical and effective, we
must educate the public conscience to the impor-

128 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

tance of the work, and direct the minds and hearts
of the rising generation to the higher life, pledg-
ing them to the principles of temperance and
morality.

It is quite as important that we develop the
heart as the intellect ; and when we carry the
minds and hearts of onr children, and the people
generally, up to the

"STANDARD OF THE HIGHER LAW,"

the desire to indulge in the gratification of the
lower propensities will be controlled.

The human mind is constantly reaching after
more light; and, as we advance in our intellect-
ual career, we obtain a greater control over the
hidden forces of nature.

By the aid of science we have analyzed the
earth, weighed and numbered the stars, annihi-
lated time and space. Why should not humanity
in its more noble departments effect a greater
achievement? Why may we not in our upward
spiritual career obtain a more glorious triumph, —
a triumph over ourselves, our habits, our passions,
and our appetites? Why should we not find in
the harmonious education and spiritual develop-
ment of our whole nature that peace and harmony
we have failed to find in intellectual culture and
the physical sciences ?

EDUCATION. 129

To use this key in the solution of these prob-
lems, and make such reform practical and effect-
ive, we must educate the public conscience to
the importance of worshipping the true God, and
directing the minds and hearts of the rising gen-
eration to the true understanding of their spiritual
natures. In short, we must have an education
that shall round out our manhood, and produce
a harmonious development of our complex nature,
the spiritual always dominating our thoughts, and
keeping the appetites and passions in their proper
place.

This requires a spiritual education that will
solve the problems of life and human happiness,
Christianize the world, harmonize the race, and
develop a civilization which will lead us to follow
that " true Light which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world." This will enable us to
throw off the bondage of evil habits, overcome
the world and all the evil influences which the
carnal mind has thrown around us, and help us
to rise to a higher and a better life.

I have shown that man is essentially a spiritual
being, and that his spiritual education and devel-
opment afford to every one a perfect remedy for
all his ills ; and that if each individual would
adopt this remedy, and live up to its requirements,
no evil could be found, no one to molest or dis-

130 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

turb our peace and harmony, and the problem of
life and human happiness would be solved.

With proper education and spiritual develop-
ment, there is no reason why the spiritual principle
of man should not assert itself, and keep the ani-
mal under absolute control.

I believe all this is potential in man ; and noth-
ing in the universe of God prevents its accom-
plishment except ignorance, evil thoughts, and the
perversity of the human heart.

BRAIN-WORK.

Man has a complex nature. He is physical
and metaphysical, — the physical mortal, the met-
aphysical immortal. The brain and nerves, with
the physical senses, constitute the physical organi-
zation through which the mind or spirit acts, and
holds converse with the material universe. We
should therefore exercise great care to keep the
physical system in a normal condition, in order
that the operations of the mind be not interrupted.

Brain- workers, either young or old, require
more nutrition, rest, and sleep, than mechanics
and laborers, because labor of the brain causes a
greater waste of tissue than labor of the muscles.
According to the estimates of Professor Houghton,
three hours of hard study produce more important
changes and waste of tissue than a whole day of
muscular labor. The brain being the organ of the
mind, and the noblest organ of the system, receives
a greater proportional amount of blood than any
other part, and is, therefore, correspondingly' af-

131

132 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

fected by overwork, and by the quantity and qual-
ity of nutrition which the body receives. Hence
the importance of strict attention to diet, sleep,
exercise, and hygienic laws in general. If it is
true that brain-work exhausts the vital forces, and
wears out the nerve-powers of the system, faster
than physical labor ; that the exercise of the brain
requires, in the way of nutrition, relatively, a
much larger proportion of blood and vitality than
other organs, — then close and continued applica-
tion of the mind for six to eight hours each day, for
scholars of weak and excitable nerves, must neces-
sarily overtax the brain, dwarf the body, and lead
to many sad results.

Diseases among students in our public schools,
as well as in our colleges, are often traceable to
over-taxation of the mind. The brain and nerves,
like other physical organs, can sustain a certain'
amount of work, and gain strength and vigor.
But if crowded by overwork, nervousness and
general ill health must be the inevitable result.
Excessive mental labor in the young also retards
physical growth, and induces conditions of the
system which are alike pernicious to the highest
development of mind and bod}^. The amount of
vital power or endurance has its limits ; and the
result of long school hours in students of a ner-
vous temperament is an overtaxed brain, a dwarfed

BRA TN- WORK. 133

body, a weakened intellect, a predisposition to dis-
ease, and a premature grave.

To prevent such results, students and all brain-
workers should exercise all the other organs of
the body as well as the brain. Even the most
secluded bookworm must use his muscles to some
extent, or suffer the penalty; and the great ma-
jority of literary and professional men are forced
to take systematic and vigorous exercise in order
to keep their brains in good working order. On
the other hand, the uneducated and laboring
classes, while they toil with their hands, as their
daily necessities require, are apt to let their brains
lie idle.

Brain and muscle should act in harmony as far
as possible in our work and in our recreation.
Every one should be educated, and the mind
trained, to understand the business or labor he is
to perform. This is very important, for we must
all realize the fact that labor is in itself of no
value unless directed by intelligence. Where a
number of unskilled laborers are employed, it has
been found necessary to employ a person of intel-
ligence to direct their labor to make it valuable or
tend to any useful purpose. If the laborers had
intelligence sufficient to direct their own labor,
they would make it very much more valuable,
and would receive a greater compensation.

134 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

The laborer with an idle or uneducated brain is
really using only the grosser or animal part of him-
self; and thus, by neglecting to develop his power
of thought, his muscle must be directed by others,
and therefore by his own neglect he forfeits the
claim to his higher nature, and becomes a part of
the business machinery of the world.

The unskilled laborer directed by others may
earn a living. But to become successful, as the
world goes, he must increase his value by develop-
ing his brain-power. In the present condition of
society, the laborer usually has a definite task as-
signed for certain hours, and when that is over he
feels free to rest. If the laborer could be made to
realize the fact that the mind needs the stimulus of
thought as much as the body needs food and ex-
ercise, he would spend his leisure hours in studying
the nature and importance of the enterprise upon
which he is employed. He would then become
more intelligent, and with his improved thought
he would do superior work. He would better sat-
isfy his employer, and receive greater wages. He
would be satisfied with himself, and in every way
improve his condition, and become a more pros-
perous and a better citizen.

It is the brain-workers who have discovered
and adapted the machinery of the world to the use
of mankind, and made the present age so remark-

BRAIN-WORK. 135

able for its wealth and prosperity. I think I may
safely say that nine-tenths of the unparalleled
increase of wealth for the last fifty years has been
the direct result of brain-work.

• Brain-workers, as a class, are more active than
mechanics or laborers. The literary man need
never be idle, for his thinking powers, the tools
of his trade, are always at hand, and the trend of
his thought is only interrupted by sleep ; and the
intensity and amount of the labor are measured
by mental discipline and power of endurance.

Thus we come in sight of a great organic law
of being, that brain-work subtracts vitality from
the fountain, while muscle-work only makes drafts
upon the ramifying streams of life.

The practical inferences are, that brain expends
its energy and itself during the hours of wakeful-
ness, and that it is recuperated only during sleep ;
that those who do the most brain-work require the
most sleep ; that time taken from necessary sleep
is infallibly destructive to mind, body, and estate,
and Nature will never fail to punish every viola-
tion of these great laws.

HINTS TO BRAIN-WORKERS.

As there is no kind of employment so exhaust-
ing to man's faculties as steady brain-work, it
should ever be a study with us how we may pre-

136 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

serve our energies, and prevent that strain upon
our powers which is breaking down so many in
professional life. Any means or agencies which
will save wear and tear should be eagerly seized
upon. While the brain-power is exhausted by
thought, the manual labor of writing is wearisome
to the flesh. Journalists, ministers, and lawyers
often postpone, and then never accomplish, intel-
lectual tasks, because they have not the physical
power to undertake them. The employment of
an amanuensis to perform the manual work of
writing while one dictates is a great saving of
energy. Any person who has not tried this plan
would be agreeably surprised to find how much
assistance it affords. Very often a professional
man feels too weary to resume the pen, and finish
some literary task which is urgent. Then is the
time when he should recline in his easy-chair, or
take a comfortable attitude elsewhere, and dictate
to an amanuensis. After a little experience, one
will find that he can thereby accomplish almost
twice as much, and with far less exhaustion.
The attention is not divided as when one writes
himself. With nothing to divert the eyes, a per-
son can, if necessary, close them, and concentrate
the mind on the subject, while the assistant com-
municates to paper the thoughts which follow.
Many of our greatest writers rarely touch the pen

BBAIN-WOEK. 137

and paper themselves, unless when writing on
private matters, but, stretched out in the mean
time in an easy-chair or upon a lounge, prepare
their articles through their amanuenses.

Brain-workers should rest often, and never
allow themselves to become weary by drawing
upon the resources of the future. There is a false
idea prevalent about resting enough in a few
weeks in summer to last the year. However full
of delight and peace the lazy hours in the country,
however freighted with rest and strength the long
day by the sea, we cannot hoard and carry away
enough of the precious store. Every twenty-four
hours is a cycle of its own, in which to tear down
and build up ; and whatever is spent between one
sunrise and another must be made good from food,
recreation, and rest. Whoever commences the
morning wearied, and continues his labor, is
spending too much vitality, and will find that
a system of paying Nature's past debts by drawing
on the future will eventually make him a bank-
rupt. To any one, unless shut up between brick
walls, if there belongs a green spot somewhere
around the house, if he can sit, at least, under
one vine and fig-tree of his own, there is at hand
a perennial spring, if he but knows how to drink
of it. Perhaps you will say, " I cannot stop to
rest, I have no time ; I will by and by, but I

138 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

must do my wort." Ah ! but are you sure of
your by and by? Are you not doing the very
thing now that may lose it for you ; or, if entered
upon, will it not, instead of being spent in rest,
as you fondly hope, be spent, rather, in regrets for
the strength so unwisely and hopelessly lost.

ACTIVITY OF MIND NECESSARY TO HEALTH.

While some of our best minds may have been
injured by overwork, it is to be regretted that
the brain-power of so many of our people is lost
in inactivity, or spent on subjects of minor impor-
tance. The bod)- can never become symmetrically
developed without the co-operation of the mind.

If we would have our bodies health}', we must
bring the whole system into harmony with the
laws of our being. The brain, which is the organ
of thought, and the whole heart and soul, must be
enlisted in the object we desire to accomplish.
The brain must be used, and used in orderly and
vigorous ways, that the life-giving streams of force
may flow into the expectant organs, which can
minister but as they are ministered unto. We
admire the vigorous animal life of the Greeks ;
and with justice we recognize, and partly seek
to imitate, the various gymnastic and other means
which they employed to secure it. But probably

B BAIN-WORK. 139

we should make a fatal error if we omitted from
our calculation the hearty and generous earnest-
ness with which the highest subjects of art, specu-
lation, and politics were pursued by them.
Surely, in their case, the beautiful and energetic
mental life was expressed in the athletic and
graceful frame.

It is a source of gratification, I confess, to recog-
nize the fact that our own athletes of the modern
Athens have recently gained a renowned victory
over the modern Greeks in their own famed
Athens, thus exemplifying that best results are
achieved by the harmonious development of mind
and body.

And is it a mere extravagance to ask whether
much of the lassitude and weariness of life may
not be due to lack of mental occupation on worthy
subjects, exciting and repaying a generous enthu-
siasm, as well as to an over-exercise on lower ones ?
whether an engrossment with matters which have
not substance enough to justify or satisfy the men-
tal grasp, be not at the root of some part of the
maladies which affect our mental convalescence ?
Of this we may be sure, that the due exercise of
brain, of thought upon subjects of profound inter-
est, is one of the essential elements of human life.
The perfect health of a man is not the same as
that of an ox or a horse. The preponderating

140 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

capacity of man's nervous parts demands a corre-
sponding life. And this fact must be recognized
and acted upon in the solution of the problem of
health.

It has been supposed that hard study is very
injurious, and it is believed by many that the
health of }roung people is often broken down by
mental effort. Parents may not understand why
their sons and daughters, attending our common
schools, boarding-schools, academies, and colleges,
who were expected to become educated and de-
veloped into perfect men and women, become
weak in intellect and physically debilitated. This
sad result is usually attributed to hard study, but
this is often a mere subterfuge. It is true that
excessive study, with the confinement consequent
upon it, and insufficient exercise, may produce
both mental and physical debility. But numerous
and well-attested facts coming under our observa-
tion justify us in saying that the majority of these
cases is dependent upon other causes.

Study strengthens the mind, as exercise does
the body ; and when parents and teachers see the
glow of health fading from the cheek of those
under their charge, they may well suspect that
such persons are guilty of a solitar}?- vice, which,
if continued, will, in spite of all their education,
destroy the vigor of both body and mind, and ren-

BRAIN-WORK. 141

der them weak, nervous, and unfit to properly dis-
charge the important duties of life.

The most healthful exercise, that which most
promotes physical vigor and strength, is the exer-
cise of the human brain, which is itself a physical
organ. The pale and puny student, who flatters
his self-conceit that he is suffering dyspepsia, and
all the ills that come with it, because he is so
intellectual, may not lay the flattering unction to
his soul ; it is more likely because he is simple
and weak, having neglected his mental and phys-
ical training. With a sound system of physical
exercise, and healthful modes of living, that same
pale and self-fancying intellectual being would
accomplish twice the mental work that has brought
him to death's door, in which very pleasant posi-
tion he prides himself.

It has been proved by statistics that among the
longest livers, as a general rule, are the intellec-
tual. A professor examined the subject, and
found that, taking classes in the average, those
that are dullest and stupidest are, as a general
rule, shorter lived than the good scholars, those
who exercise the brains thoroughly, faithfully,
and have performed all their duties conscien-
tiously. And yet there is a great disproportion
between the powers of childish attention and the
length of school hours, Mr, Donaldson, head

142 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

master of the Training College of Glasgow, states
that the limits of voluntary and intelligent atten-
tion are, with children of from five to seven years
of age, about fifteen minutes ; from seven to ten
years of age, about twenty minutes ; from ten to
twelve years of age, about fifty-five minutes ; from
twelve to sixteen or eighteen years of age, about
sixty minutes ; and continues, " I have repeatedly
obtained a bright, voluntary attention, from each
of these classes, for five, or ten, or fifteen minutes
more ; but I observed it was always at the ex-
pense of the succeeding lesson. ''

As soon as the capacity of the brain to receive
instruction becomes exhausted, a recess of a few
minutes should be granted, after which the mind
will be in condition for another season of study.
By attention to these rules, as much can be taught
to children in three hours a day as they can by
any possibility receive ; and it is an axiom in edu-
cation that no lesson has been taught until it has
been received ; as soon, therefore, as the receiving-
power of the children is exhausted, any further
teaching, until they have had a season of rest, is
useless, nay, injurious, inasmuch as you thereby
weaken, instead of strengthen, the receiving-
power. This ought to be a first principle in edu-
cation, but it is seldom acted on.

The truth of this is made evident by the testi-

BRAIN-WORK. 1J:3

moil}' of all competent witnesses. We respect-
fully submit to all school commissioners, teachers,
and parents who may read these statements, that
they are not of a character to be glanced at and
tossed aside, but are worthy of being thought of
and acted upon.

From Carlyle's pictures of German schools, and
from all descriptions of the English schools, there
is no doubt that in both those countries there is a
lamentable want of understanding, on the part of
scholars, of the subjects which they attempt to
learn. The matter is still worse in France and
Austria, and it is the prominent vice which per-
vades the whole American system of education.

Our failure to secure an understanding of the
things which we try to teach is, doubtless, in part
owing to the fact that we endeavor to teach too
much in a given time ; but it is also in part at-
tributable to the circumstance that we waste more
than three-quarters of the time in trying to impart
ideas when the mind of the pupil is not in a con-
dition to receive them. A teacher might as well
expend his efforts upon carved wooden images of
children, as upon scholars after their minds are
tired out.

THOUGHTS ARE REALITIES.

Reader, did it ever occur to 3-ou that thoughts,
though unseen, are more real than any product of
our physical senses ? Our thoughts may be con-
fused, and even conflicting, in our present inhar-
monious condition ; but we never act without
their inspiration. Thoughts are the mainspring
of action throughout the universe.

Isa. lv. 9 : " For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
God's ways are higher than our ways, because his
thoughts are higher than our thoughts ; showing
that the ways or actions correspond Avith the
thoughts, and we shall always find our actions a
counterpart of the thoughts which inspire them.

David says, " I thought on my ways, and turned
my feet unto thy testimonies " (Ps. cxix. 59).
" The thoughts of the righteous are right " (Prov.
xii. 5) ; and (xv. 26), « The thoughts of the
wicked are an abomination," because they lead to
abominable acts.

144

THOUGHTS ARE REALITIES. 145

Isa. iv. 7: "Let the unrighteous man forsake
his thoughts," showing that the evil thoughts
were the cause of his unrighteousness.

" Their feet run to evil, . . . their thoughts
are thoughts of iniquity" (Isa. lix. 7). "A rebel-
lious people, which walketh . . . after their own
thoughts" (Isa. lxv. 2).

Mark vii. 21 : " Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders." And
he might have added riots, wars, and civil disorder.

" For I know their works and their thoughts "
(Isa. lxvi. 18). "Keep him in perfect peace
whose mind [or thoughts] is stayed on thee "
(Isa. xxvi. 3).

Thoughts are the inspiration of the mind, and
do not necessarily include or require the exercise
of the material senses.

The action of our thoughts is instantaneous,
and beyond the influence of time or space. Our
thoughts can reach the farthest star, thousands of
billions of miles away, as easily and as quickly as
an object near us.

People never act without first having thoughts
about such acts. People may summon their intel-
lect and their reason to judge of their thoughts
and consider results. But because a person acts
without conscious deliberation does not prove that
he acts without thoughts.

146 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

Thoughts are not only instantaneous, and recog-
nize neither time nor space, but they are innumer-
able. No one can realize the millions of thoughts
that make up the unwritten history of a single
mind for a single day. And yet every thought,
good or bad, becomes an essential factor in form-
ing the character of every person. There is no
limit to the possibilities of the human mind. Our
thoughts are not only instantaneous and innumer-
able, but they are

CURATIVE ;

so that if the world of mankind would be guided
by the true light, and follow only good thoughts, I
see no reason Avhy this present discordant world
might not be changed into one of harmony and
peace.

If we cannot accomplish all this for the world,
we can accomplish very much for ourselves and
those about us, by keeping our own minds from
evil and discordant thoughts, and elevating our
souls to a higher plane of life. Our good thoughts
and our good character will react upon our neigh-
bors, who, seeing our good works, will be filled
with good thoughts, which will lead them to a
higher plane of life.

Our thoughts are not only instantaneous, innu-
merable, and curative, but they are

THOUGHTS ARE REALITIES. 147

CREATIVE.

The first chapter of the Gospel of St. John
reads, " In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God."
The original Greek rendered word is " logos" It
means the inner life, the real esse, or literally the
divine thought; viz., in the beginning was the
thought, and the thought was with God, and
the thought was God.

Everything ever created by God or man was
the direct product of thought. God spake the
word (his thought), and the universe appeared as
the materialization of his thought. We are almost
overwhelmed with the knowledge of this wonder-
ful power of God's thought; and yet all the works
of art, sculpture, painting, literature, railroads,
telegraph, telephone, all the machinery and the
furniture of the world, are but the materialization
of human thought.

When we direct our thoughts within ourselves,
we discern the wonderful creative power of
thought in forming our own condition for health
of body and peace of mind. Our good or bad
habits are formed and continued by the creative
power of our thoughts ; and it follows that the
only real remedy for the ills of life is found in a
change of thought from the animal to the spiritual.

148 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

With such evidence before us, we shall not
overlook the fact that each individual, for himself, '
must fight this battle of life on the field of his
own mind and soul ; and upon the result of this
battle depend the peace of the individual, the
tranquillity of society, and the salvation of the
race.

If our thoughts are real, and the prime mover
of all our actions, it follows that the deplorable
condition in which we find society to-day is but
the legitimate outcome of impure thoughts and
unholy desires in the minds and hearts of the
people. In the reality and power of thought we
have the key to the solution of the great

PROBLEMS OF LIFE

and human happiness. If wrong thoughts pro-
duce in us wrong actions, and good thoughts
good actions, to improve the condition of society
we must improve our habits of thought, arouse
the dormant energies of the mind, and make all
understand and appreciate the power and the in-
spiration of good thoughts, — make them realize
the fact that thoughts are really the inspiration of
all our actions ; that when we have freed our
minds from evil thoughts, we shall be able to free
our lives from the bondage of evil habits, — make
all realize the glorious redemption awaiting those

THOUGHTS ABE REALITIES. 149

who are ready to control their thoughts, and give
up their evil deeds, and accept the higher plane of
spiritual life.

We may not all understand just how a change
of thought in the individual mind can change the
condition of society. But we all know that
thoughts and ideas do shape our

SOCIAL CONDITION,

and determine the cycle of human progress. The
leading emotions or activities of every person are
determined by some dominant idea or passion,
which leads him in a certain direction, and too
often towards sensual gratification. This disso-
nance or conflict, that St. Paul has so graphically
portrayed, in which some element of man's nature
is ever struggling to obtain the supremacy, is the
real battle of life, in which every man is to deter-
mine his true character and the loyalty of his
will.

If this struggle of the spirit is the basis of all
reform, and I think no one will deny it, it is evi-
dent that we must rely upon the enlightenment of
our spiritual nature to lift our common humanity
above the influence of evil thoughts and vicious
habits.

To accomplish any great reform in the world, we
must begin right, and instil into the minds of the

150 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

young and the old the importance of right think-
ing ; and when this has become a fixed habit in our
minds, it will be reflected in the purity of our
lives.

People say, in a jocose manner, " Oh, we can
think what we please ! " as if our thoughts were
innocent playthings for the mind. But I affirm
that no man is secure from the influence of evil
deeds while his mind is occupied by evil thoughts.
It is this medley of good and bad thoughts in
our minds that makes our lives so irregular and
unreliable. Purifying the fountain from evil
thoughts in the individual mind is the only true
basis of reform ; and when we free our minds
from evil thoughts, we shall be able to free our
lives from the bondage of evil habits, and so-
ciety from all social ills, for society has no ills
which do not belong to the individual. This is
an important truth, and should receive our serious
consideration ; for we shall never succeed in our
efforts to reform the world till we realize, and act
upon the fact, that

THOUGHTS ARE FORCES,

which not only control the mind's actions, but are
materialized into visible effects upon our lives.
The beautiful picture we so much admire is but
the materialized thought of the artist. The archi-

THOUGHTS ABE BEALITIES. 151

tect builds the house in his mind before he can
even draw the plan.

The happy countenance we sometimes see,
beaming with joy, is but the reflected expression
of the purity of thought within. So, also, our
errors and our bad thoughts become reflected upon
our bodies in various ways. Mental conditions
of a brutal person not only debase his morals, but
stamp brutality upon his face.

Evil is the result of bad thoughts. Crimes are
in the thoughts before they become overt acts in
human law. The real guilt is in thinking evil ;
and so comes in the law, " Evil be to him that
evil thinks."

If you look upon a criminal or an ill-tempered
person, you will see the proof of the action of
this law in the unpleasant or wicked thoughts
carving their lines in the expression of the face.
uAs a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

By a law of our nature, indulgence in vile or
irreligious thoughts encourages corresponding vice
in conduct. Vicious thoughts always precede
vicious actions. Christ condemned the man as
already guilty of adultery in his heart from the
effects of lustful thoughts. We cannot convict
a person till he has committed some overt act ;
but the real crime is always in the thoughts, or
unseen things, of the spirit.

152 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

It may be difficult for persons whose moral
sense has been perverted, and whose

SPIRITUAL PERCEPTIONS

have not been enlightened, to understand how we
can be dual in our nature ; how we can be at
once an animal and a spiritual being, and that our
condition depends upon whether we live in the
spirit, or descend to the animal plane of thought.

There are many things connected with our un-
developed spiritual being that we cannot now
understand. We ought not to expect that our
finite nature can comprehend the spiritual glory
of the infinite. But we can all realize the fact
that our physical senses alone can never guide us
to heaven ; that material philosophy can never
penetrate the mystic veil of the future ; that in
this supreme conflict of soul, spirit light only can
illumine our pathway across the dark river that
lies before us.

These conflicts of our dual nature are beyond
the limits of our finite conception, and our reason
and our logic may properly pay respect to faith ;
for in this spiritual conflict we need to seek a
guiding hand, and walk with a wisdom higher
than our own. Wisdom's ways are ways of pleas-
antness, and all her paths are paths of peace.

INTEMPERANCE.

Stimulants of some kind have been used by
a large portion of the human family in all ages of
the world. People of all nations have been able
to find, in their own country, articles from which
they could manufacture drinks that stimulate and
intoxicate ; and the people have indulged in their
use to the destruction of the best interests of
society.

The use of alcoholic stimulants is not a new
subject, and yet there are phases or facts con-
nected with their use which have not received
the consideration their importance demands.

Alcohol is neither food nor medicine. It can-
not add one molecule to the plasm out of which
our bodies are daily built up. It does not supply,
but consumes, vital force. It weakens the nerves,
deadens the sensibilities, and lessens the power
of the system to resist disease, or to recover from
its effects.

Alcoholic stimulants may serve a purpose in
bridging over attacks of sinking or prostration;

153

154 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

and physicians may, and often do, interpret snch
momentary exaltation as favorable to life and
health, and so continue their use. But the incited
activity produced by such stimulants does not
last, and cannot be extended for any great length
of time, even by the continued and increased use
of the stimulants ; because the depressing effects,
which are sure to follow after a time, more than
counteract their power to stimulate. Alcohol
produces an excitement of the system for a time,
but it does not nourish or sustain the vital force.
It inflames the stomach, weakens the power of
digestion and assimilation, and cannot be long
continued without injurious results. There is
no added vital force, except by increased power
of digestion and assimilation. There can be no
excess in the animal economy without a corre-
sponding loss. The

MOMENTARY EXALTATION

of the functions of either body or mind produced
by alcoholic stimulants is always followed by an
increased degree of depression. Alcohol may
spur a weary brain, or nerve a feeble arm to
abnormal exertion for a time ; but its work is
destructive, and not constructive.

Every physician knows that the man whose
system is soaked in liquors does not have the

INTEMPERANCE. 155

same chance for recovery when sick as the man of
temperate habits. He knows that the alcohol so
poisons the blood and tissue as to render medicine
comparatively ineffectual. He also knows that it
takes but a small quantity of alcohol to inflame
the stomach and brain of persons who have not
been accustomed to its use ; and yet it is by no
means unusual for physicians to recommend alco-
holic stimulants to students and professional men
who have become exhausted by excessive mental
labor. It is not stimulus, but rest, that such per-
sons require ; and if they use alcoholic stimulants,
and continue labor, they do it at the risk of
broken constitutions, and will be likely to fill pre-
mature graves. The same result follows the use
of alcohol among the farmers and laborers, who
work principally with their muscles, though less
fatal than when used by students and brain-
workers.

Some sixty or sixty-five years ago, it was com-
mon among the farmers to use alcoholic stimu-
lants to a considerable extent, especially during
the "haying season," when all were expected to
labor very hard. This extra season of labor they
supposed required an extra amount of stimulant.
To answer this end farmers generally procured
eight or ten gallons of New England rum, as it
was called. I was at that time of the age to take

156 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

notice, and be impressed with the result of my
observation. I found that the men who indulged
freely in the use of stimulant, after working for a
week or ten days, came to a state of exhaustion,
and were obliged to quit labor for a few days for
recuperation ; while those who did not use the
stimulant worked steadily through the season.
My observation proved the fact that those who
did not use the stimulant secured their hay-crop
earlier, and with more care, than those who used
the stimulant.

It is true that alcoholic stimulants may produce
a momentary exaltation of the bodily functions.
A man may under the alcoholic lash perform more
labor for a few hours, but it is sure to be fol-
lowed by an increased degree of depression ; and
it will be found that in the end the men who are
temperate will accomplish more work and with
better results, than men who indulge in the use of
alcoholic stimulant. Contrast in any field of labor
the work performed, or the condition of the men
and their families, the temperate with the intempe-
rate, and you will see where the advantage lies.

It is the indubitable result of any undue

EXERCISE OR STIMULANT

of nerve force that a certain amount of exhaustion
follows, with its attendant physical and mental

INTEMPERANCE. 157

depression. This depression of the whole system
is one of the simplest illustrations of the laws that
govern the human race.

What course of treatment have you followed?
I ask of a lady, who comes for advice. "I have
had several physicians and taken some medicine."
What kind of medicine ? " Sometimes it is
sherry, sometimes lager beer, sometimes whiskey
or brandy;" but nine times out of ten an alcoholic
stimulant, a whip, a cruel spur, quickening speed
and consuming vitality.

The fashionable lady, exhausted from the effects
of late suppers and late hours, consults her physi-
cian. He prescribes a mild tonic, and recommends
wine two or three times a day. She is pleased
with the doctor's prescription, and so takes her
wine or beer ; and after the lapse of a few months
the desire for stimulants is acquired, the dose
increased, and, as more stimulant is demanded,
whiskey or brandy is substituted. The drinking-
habit becomes confirmed ; she indulges to such an
extent that she is obliged to take her bed to sleep
off its effects.

Observe that this habit of intemperance has
been fostered under the direction of the doctor,
with whom she has frequently consulted, and from
whom she has a right to expect advantageous
advice.

158 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

Does the doctor inquire about the improper
food taken into this delicate stomach, and about
the sleep his patient loses night after night?
Does he strive to correct this habit of dissipation,
and speak out his honest thoughts, and give a
truthful account of his professional diagnosis ?
Most assuredly not. Physicians who give plain,
practical advice, and prescribe for their patients
mild medicines to remove disease and restore nor-
mal action, are very likely to be unpopular. Peo-
ple like a doctor who will give them what they
like — alcohol.

" Do you mean to say that you do not approve
of alcoholic stimulants under any circumstances ? "
is a question asked me very frequently, and with
real earnestness, by physicians and so-called tem-
perance men, who have not yet seen their way to
total abstinence.

They have many examples to relate of the good
done by beer, wine, whiskey, and brandy; but the
effects of alcohol are always deceptive, and I be-
lieve that their estimate of the good accomplished
by these stimulants is erroneous.

I have often witnessed cases where alcoholic
stimulants had been given for days and even
weeks, when the attending physicians seemed to
think that their patients had been kept alive upon
such stimulants, when it seemed to me evident

INTEMPERANCE. 159

that they had survived in spite of the liquors, and
would have recovered much sooner without them;
and I have seen other patients succumb, whom it
would seem might have recovered from their dis-
eases, but for the additional shock produced by
the use of such stimulants.

In the case of a patient rapidly sinking, I might
perhaps administer some alcoholic stimulant, were
nothing else at hand, but with the firm belief that
the object would have been more satisfactorily at-
tained by harmless medicines.

If, in driving with a horse over a dangerous
way, I find myself sinking in a slough, and no one
near to render assistance, I should most certainly
apply the whip; but once in safety, I should not
continue the whip as doctors do the alcohol, but
give the tired animal just what it most needed,
rest.

This is precisely what alcohol, in any form,
does to the human system. It may be combined
and given with tonics or other articles that are of
service ; but the alcohol itself is the lash, and
never, under any circumstances, is it anything

In view of such facts, it seems unaccountable
that physicians should persist in prescribing alco-
holic stimulants in fevers and other inflammatory
diseases, when they must know that they add to

160 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

the inflammatory condition, and consume more
rapidly the vitality of their patients. It is proba-
ble that there are frequent deaths under such
treatment that would not have occurred had the
alcoholic stimulants been omitted.

If you were an engineer on a railroad train,
with an engine constructed to run thirty miles an
hour, and you found that you were running down-
grade at a speed of two or three times that rate,
you surely would not order your fireman to use
pitch or petroleum to increase speed for the safety
of the train ; and yet that is precisely what the
doctor with his fever patient is doing when he
orders alcoholic stimulants.

HEREDITARY EFFECTS.

The desire for alcoholic stimulants is always
morbid. The healthy system needs no stimula-
tion, and desires none. It is only when an unnat-
ural appetite has been created by the habitual use
of some stimulant, that the craving for intoxicants
is experienced; this morbid appetite may not al-
ways have been created by the person himself, but
may have been inherited from his ancestors ; such
idiosyncrasies are not infrequent.

It is worthy of notice that an inherited appetite
for liquors may lie latent for years without giving

INTEMPERANCE. 161

the least indication of its presence ; but let alco-
holic liquors be taken, even under the prescription
of the physician, and the appetite, hitherto dor-
mant, may be aroused and incited, and become
difficult to control.

The laws of descent by which such depraved
appetites are transmitted are but little understood ;
and yet nothing can be more absurd than to sup-
pose that physical deformity and debased mental
qualities can be the result of sound physical
health and normal conditions of mind.

We are largely the product of the past; our
physical and mental conditions are in a great
measure woven for us. How important, then,
that we should abstain from all unnatural stimula-
tion, immoral practices, and unholy thoughts, that
we may improve our condition, and transmit to
our posterity a higher condition of life.

In view of the facts and experiences of life,
people indulge in intoxicants apparently with-
out the slightest thought of the evils that are
sure to follow.

Prospective and nursing mothers use liquors to
a considerable extent without being aware of the
injury done to their own system, or the terrible
results likely to be entailed upon their offspring.

Dr. Edmonds of London, speaking upon this
subject, says : — ■

162 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

" A very large majority of the ladies of my own acquain-
tance, who are a fair sample, perhaps, of ladies living in
London society, have acquired the habit of using wine,
table-beer, stout, and frequently whiskey and brandy, to
a large extent, I think, owing to the mistake on the part
of my own profession in the advice which they have given.
The result is that the babies of the present generation are
never sober from the earliest period of their existence until
they have been weaned.

" This is a shocking statement for me to make, but I
should not be doing my duty unless I were to make it as
broadly and strongly as that. It is a simple fact. The
mother's blood, practically, is entirely in common with that
of the child. You know that if the mother takes even an
ordinary dose of castor oil, it will often affect the baby
more than it affects the mother ; that one has to be exceed-
ingly careful in prescribing for mothers simply on that
ground. Now, what does that simple fact prove ? That the
soothed condition of the baby, after the mother has taken
half a pint of beer, is really the first stage of drunkenness
in that child.

" When a mother tells me that whenever she takes whis-
key and water, or brandy and water, because the child is
fractious, and she finds that her milk agrees with it better, I
am obliged to ask her if she knows that she is simply mak-
ing herself the medium for distilling into her babe's system
almost the whole of that spirit which she takes into her
own, and whether she is aware that that soothed condition
of the child is really the first stage of drunkenness ?

" Well, now, ladies, bear that in mind ; when you are
told to take wine, beer, or brandy, understand that you are
merely distilling that wine, spirit, or beer into your child's
frame ; that the very form and fashion which the child

INTEMPERANCE. 163

is to preserve for the rest of its life, is being constructed
out of

BLOOD THAT IS ALCOHOLIZED,

out of a condition of the system in which intoxication is
the real, substantial element for the first twelve months of
its growth."

Such is the deliberate judgment of one of Eng-
land's noblest physicians, admitting that the
terrible results of the use of alcoholic stimulants,
which he has so graphically portrayed, are, to
a very great extent, owing to the mistakes on the
part of the medical profession in so often pre-
scribing and recommending their use.

The daily sights of drunkenness and degrada-
tion are revolting to the public mind and morals.
But dark as are the shadings of these pictures to
the eye, they do not compare with the silent
effects in transmitting to posterity, not only the
taste for spirituous liquors, but shattered and
diseased constitutions, physical and moral deprav-
ity, and a patrimony of misery and woe.

If the drunken father injured himself alone, if
the mother, sleeping off intoxication, wrought no
evil except the present, it would be of compara-
tively small account. They do infinitely worse.
TheyT make drunkards, criminals, lunatics, and
idiots for another generation. It is estimated that
there are forty thousand

164 THOUGHTS FOE THE PEOPLE.

LUNATICS AND IDIOTS

born of drunken parents annually in the United
States, and who are lunatics and idiots because of
drunken parents. Lunatics, idiots, and monstrosi-
ties are not inflictions upon wise and good parents.
Normal conditions never produce abnormal results.
There may be conditions which we do not under-
stand, but we have the best authority for believing
that we all reap what we sow.

We have then, as the result of genteel social
drinking and maudlin drunkenness, the various
degrees of lunacy, idiocy, and feeble-mindedness.

There are hundreds of thousands of parents
addicted to the use of fermented and distilled
liquors, who would scorn the idea of being consid-
ered intemperate, and yet who are inevitably
perpetuating weakness, and entailing upon chil-
dren and grandchildren an endless heritage of
moral, mental, and physical misery. Not only are
physical deformities and predispositions to the
taste of alcoholic liquors transmitted, but the

FRENZIED EXCITEMENT,

nervous and demoniacal disposition of inebriate
parents, are often perpetuated as characteristics
in their offspring, urging them into crime and
degradation.

INTEMPERANCE. 165

It is in this direction that we must look for an
explanation of the terrible crimes that so shock
the public mind. When we consider this subject
in all its bearings, we shall wonder that there are
not more of that class represented by Guiteau,
whose moral condition so well fitted him for an
assassin ; or the fiendish Pomeroy boy, who is now
serving out his sentence in the State prison.

PHYSICIANS.

The relations of physicians to society are pecu-
liar and responsible. They should teach, as well
as administer drugs. They should not only look
after the sanitary condition of the people, but also
to the elevation of the race. They should strive
to make the people understand the relations be-
tween cause and effect; to make all realize the
fact that children have a most sacred right to a
harmonious existence ; that parents who are in-
temperate, and who indulge in fits of passion or
moral wrong, have a fearful account to settle with
their children, as well as with their God ; that
parents who transmit to their children abnormal
conditions or perverted instincts lower in them
the standard of human excellence, and all the
education, all the physical training or moral cul-
ture, can never repair the wrong.

From what has been shown, it will be seen that

166 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

the worst effects of alcohol are those which are
least understood and least realized, as such, by the
people generally.

There may be an honest difference of opinion as
to the extent to which physicians should be held
responsible for these terrible results. But it is
certain that the power which the medical profes-
sion exerts over the minds and habits of the peo-
ple carries with it a grave responsibility.

When we comprehend all the facts, we shall be
almost forced to believe that the members of the
medical profession, by so frequently prescribing
and recommending alcoholic stimulants, have be-
come the greatest hindrance the temperance cause
has to-day.

No class of people see so much of the evils of
intoxicating drinks as physicians. The screens
which hide so much from the world are thrown
down for us, and we are necessarily made the con-
fidants of our patients.

We all can recall scenes and incidents of
misery, degradation, and crime which we would
gladly forget. In my own experience I have
known many brilliant and talented men disgraced
and ruined by intemperance, when all efforts for
their reformation were counteracted, and the un-
fortunate beings placed beyond the reach of their
friends, by the fact that they took their liquors, as

INTEMPERANCE. 167

they always declared, by their doctor's prescrip-
tion, and by his special order.

With the influence which medical men now
possess over the minds and habits of people, in-
temperate men, shielded behind their

doctor's prescription,

cannot be reached by any arguments ; and the re-
sponsibility of the wrong to them, to their families,
and to society, must to a great extent rest upon
the medical profession.

It is so common for physicians to prescribe
liquors, that the laws enacted for the suppression
of their sale have always been weakened, and I
might say rendered inoperative, by a clause allow-
ing their sale for medicinal purposes.

It is for the supposed necessity of filling physi-
cians' prescriptions that liquors are required to
be kept for sale; and people, reposing confidence
in the judgment and wisdom of physicians, very
naturally reason that, if liquors must be kept,
and are necessary for doctors to prescribe for their
patients upon all occasions, it might be well, if not
necessary, for the people to take them to prevent
sickness.

This shows the influence which physicians have
in fostering drinking-habits in society. It shows

168 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

the confidence legislators and the public have re-
posed in the knowledge and in the integrity of the
profession ; and I submit to your own hearts
and consciences to decide with what fidelity this
trust and this confidence have been used.

Now, as members of an honored profession,
having so much to do with the habits of society,
— with what immediately concerns the welfare of
the people, and the great interests which are shap-
ing the destinies of the race, — let me entreat you
to use this influence in the right direction and for
the good of the wrorld.

It needs no argument to convince you that it is
upon the medical profession, to a very great ex-
tent, that the rumseller depends to maintain the
respectability of the traffic. It requires only your
own experience and observation to convince you
that it is upon the medical profession, their pre-
scriptions and recommendations for its use upon
so many occasions, that the

HABITUAL DRAM-DRINKER

depends for the seeming respectability of his
drinking-habits. It is upon the members of the
medical profession, and the exceptional laws which
it has always demanded, that the whole liquor fra-
ternity depends, more than upon anything else, to

INTEMPERANCE. 169

screen it from the opprobrium and just punish-
ment for the evils which the traffic entails upon
society; and it is because the rumseller and the
rumdrinker hide under the cloak of seeming re-
spectability, that they are so difficult to reach,
either by moral suasion or by law.

As a result of fifty-six years of professional ex-
perience and practical observation, I feel assured
that alcoholic stimulants are not required as medi-
cines ; and I believe that many, if not a majority,
of physicians to-day, of education and experience,
are satisfied that alcoholic stimulants, as medi-
cines, are not necessary ; and physicians generally
have only to overcome the force of habit, and the
prevailing fashion in medicine, to find a more ex-
cellent way, when they will all look back with
wonder and surprise that they, as individuals and
as members of an honored profession, should have
been so far compromised with this, the greatest of
all evils.

CAUSE AND CURE.

The warfare against intemperance has been
waged for many years. Great good has been ac-
complished, and intemperance has been checked
in a degree ; but the cause of the difficulty has not
been reached. The reason why we are not able
to show better results, why people have not more

170 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

generally accepted our logic, and joined in the
temperance reform, is because we have not treated
the subject with that comprehensiveness its im-
portance demands.

We seem to have forgotten that man has many
faculties ; that he has appetites, passions, and pro-
pensities, and is subject to many habits and vices,
of which intemperance is one. Without giving
proper attention to the combination of causes
upon which drunkenness depends, we have treated
it as a separate item or habit, and omitted in our
diagnosis the various other social vices which
cluster around it, and from which it largely de-
rives its support.

Fifty years ago dram-drinking was very fashion-
able ; but it occupied its own field, and its de-
structive tendencies were easily traced, and our
arguments against it were understood and appre-
ciated. This drinking-habit has now become
associated in various ways with other vices ; and
in our efforts to overcome it we have to contend
with the combined power of all the social evils of
society, as well as the depravity of the human
heart.

Truly man is fearfully and wonderfully made !
A perfect equipoise in the various departments of
his nature is difficult to maintain ; circumstances,
comparatively trivial in themselves, change the

INTEMPERANCE. 171

current of thought ; moral and religious instruc-
tion elevates the race, while immoral influences,
appealing to the passions and appetites, often stir
the masses to acts of violence and lawlessness.

This inharmony, or conflict, which St. Paul has
so graphically portrayed, in which some element
of man's nature is ever struggling to obtain su-
premacy, is the real battle of life, in which every
man is to determine his true character and the
loyalty of his will.

The point particularly to be noticed is the fact
that other social vices have become contending
factors in this struggle, and are so intimately con-
nected with the habits and customs of life, that
the question of intemperance can never be practi-
cally solved till we embrace in our faith and works
the whole nature of man, and his relations to his
Maker.

This being true, it is evident that we must rely,
not so much upon legislative enactments, as upon
the sacred teachings of morality and Christianity,
to lift our common humanity above the influence
of the vicious habits which have become part of
our popular life.

In pursuing the question of temperance from
this standpoint, we have to deal, not only with the
influence of the ignorant and the immoral classes,
but we have to encounter men of

172 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

POWERFUL INTELLECT AND HIGH CULTURE,

as well as a large class of men more or less edu-
cated, but whose moral conceptions do not rise to
a high plane of thought and life, and whose real
influence upon the temperance question sinks
almost to the level of those who live for self-
gratification alone.

Upon this low plane of life, men of intelligence
and culture, as well as the more ignorant, will
manufacture, drink, or sell intoxicating liquors, as
well as indulge in other vicious habits, without
much regard for the feelings or protestations of
those who live upon a higher plane ; and they may
do so without fully realizing the wrong they are
doing to themselves or to society.

The misconception of man's real nature, and his
duties to his fellow-man, arises from the defects
of education, as well as from his perverse nature.

This fact will explain how men may be sound
and correct in certain directions, and at the same
time weak, if not absolutely wrong, in others. We
may then be able to account for the adverse influ-
ence upon the temperance question of some of our
brilliant men. We may then understand the

MOTIVES WHICH INFLUENCE

adverse classes of society to unite in voting against

INTEMPERANCE. 173

or resisting any law that restricts them in the
gratification of their selfish desires.

Such men feel that they have rights ; and from
their standpoint it is not strange that prohibitory
laws should arouse their combativeness, and bring
into action the worst elements of strife.

Under a free government like ours, moral power
rises superior to political power, and public opin-
ion is an important factor in determining the re-
sult in a contest like that of intemperance. We
must realize the fact that legislation in regard to
intemperance, like that upon all moral questions,
can be effective only so far as it is sustained by
public sentiment.

Wherever manufacturers, dealers, and those who
desire the use of intoxicating liquors, are in the
majority, they will not quietly submit to sumptu-
ary laws; and to redeem them, and restore har-
mony to society, we must reach their hearts and
their better feelings, and lift them into a higher
life.

The solution of the problem of intemperance,
then, means something more than prohibitory
laws. It means harmonious development of the
race and a higher civilization.

If we cannot, to any great extent, reform those
who are confirmed in habits of vice and dissipa-
tion, let us see to it that we so direct the minds of

174 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

the young as to achieve thereby success in the
coming generation.

It has become fashionable to regard drunkenness
only as a perverted or depraved condition of the
appetite, and, therefore, a physical disease. But
our complex nature requires that we should en-
large our definition ; for drunkenness involves, not
only derangement of the physical system, but also
perverts the intellectual and the moral.

By a law of our nature, indulgence in low
thoughts, for which we are responsible, encour-
ages corresponding vice in conduct. Vicious
thoughts always precede vicious actions. The
man who deliberately surrenders his will to his
appetite, and commences the habit of drinking,
knoAving its effects, is morally guilty, even before
the habit has produced the morbid or depraved
condition which he afterward "fashionably" terms
a purely physical disease.

The guilt of drunkenness, or the commission of
any crime, is not in the body, but in the thoughts
and desires of the mind. There can be no drunk-
enness, or gratification of

APPETITE OR PASSION,

or act of any function of the human body, without
the consent of the mind and will. If a man's
conduct is immoral, the consent for such immoral-

INTEMPERANCE. 175

ity must have come from the mind. The real
man having control and giving the order for such
acts must he responsible for the consequences.
The bodily organs and functions, being under the
control of the thoughts inspired by the mind and
determined by the will of the individual, must be
followed, whether they be good or bad, right or
wrong.

When associates meet they all think, and the
greatest force of their combined thought will
be likely to control or direct their actions. If
they are living upon a high spiritual plane, their
thoughts will protect them from evil, if they do
not take them to church. If they are living upon
a low plane, and their thoughts and habits of life
unfold from the animal or carnal mind, they will
go to the saloon or to other places of social vice.

If drunkenness were purely physical, and came
to us like measles and other purely physical dis-
eases, uninvited and without our knowledge or
consent, we could not blame a person for being
dissipated. But drunkenness does not attack
people in this manner. Every man intuitively
feels that he is himself in some way culpable for
being intemperate, for allowing his spirit, in God's
image, to

YIELD TO THE DEMANDS

of his animal propensities. Some of us may have

176 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

inherited appetites for strong drinks and other
inharmonious conditions. But I believe there is
always an opportunity given, when, by the power
of our own will, and the grace of God, we may be
redeemed and saved from its curse. A man does
not become a drunkard unless he takes alcohol
in some form ; and no man can take alcoholic
liquors as a beverage, knowing their terrible con-
sequences, without the consent of his own will.
This consent involves his moral nature, and shows
that the real wrong may have been in his mind
and thoughts prior even to his taking his first glass.
The dissipation which may follow, and become a
habit, is but the legitimate result of surrendering
his will and his moral sense to his appetite.

When a man, created in God's image, yields his
power and dominion over himself and over the
earth to his animal propensities, he not only sacri-
fices his own manhood, but violates God's law,
and becomes responsible for all sinful indulgences
and their consequences. Every drunkard feels
ashamed of his condition, which is an acknowl-
edgment on his part that he is culpable for not
controlling his appetite, a feeling which he would
not have were drunkenness a purely physical dis-
ease. People do not consider themselves guilty
for having measles, smallpox, or typhoid fever, or
any other purely physical disease.

INTEMPERANCE. 177

With these facts before us, we cannot have
much faith in the cure of drunkenness, a disease
essentially moral, by the use of physical means.
A declaration that a cure may be effected by
drugs may impart faith to some minds, and lead
persons to study their own natures, and thus
bring about better conditions, and perhaps occa-
sionally an entire reformation. But, as the real
difficulty is moral, I fear the hope held out to
the drunkard, by the promise of cure by the use
of drugs, tends to divert the mind from the true
and only cure, which lies in a change of thought
from the animal or carnal mind to that of the
moral and the spiritual.

T believe it is rare that an habitual drunkard
has been, by whatever means, permanently re-
deemed from his cups, who was not by the grace
of God also redeemed from its kindred habits and
vices, leaving his soul free to rise to a higher
life.

The real battle of reform from drunkenness and
all immoral and vicious habits must be fought out
on the field of the mind and soul of the individ-
ual ; and upon the result of this battle, and not
upon the use of drugs, depends the salvation of
the drunkard.

It might not be unprofitable for the drunkard
whose moral sense has become perverted, and his

178 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

higher nature enslaved, to look back to the time
when he stood a free man, and knew the conse-
quences of a wrong choice, and the power of the
drinking-habit to degrade him, as it has degraded
others, to the animal plane of thought, and the
gratification of the lower animal propensities.

Our people are by no means satisfied with their
social or their moral condition, and they are often
too much excited for calm reasoning or correct
thinking. A species of intemperance seems to
have absorbed every element of the human mind,
till, as a people, we have become intemperate in
our minds, intemperate in our thoughts and feel-
ings, intemperate in our language, intemperate in
our amusements and in our manner of living; and
it seems to me that much of our recreation has
become little better than dissipation.

With all these forms of intemperance dominat-
ing our lives, our cities filled with all manner of
gaming and other social vices, to take the atten-
tion of the people from the sober realities of life,
it is not strange that the efforts of temperance
reformers, using their force against intemperance
in the use of alcohol alone, have not been able to
overcome the influence of this formidable alliance.

It is upon this foundation that intemperance in
the use of intoxicating liquors makes its way; and
if we would effectually remove such intemperance,

INTEMPERANCE. 179

we must remove with it its associate habits and
vices.

Now, while we strive to make laws to purify our
literature, to clear our cities from drinking-saloons
and other places of social vice, let us remember
that it is impure thoughts and unholy desires that
lead to immoral conduct and criminal acts ; that
it is the minds and hearts of the people, as well
as our

LITERATURE AND LAWS,

that need purifying and elevating; and that,
when this is accomplished, the higher law will
be dominant, drinking-saloons will be abandoned,
immoral literature spurned from society, and arbi-
trary laws will be scarcely needed.

We have too long allowed unfavorable sur-
roundings to bend the twig; and after the twig
is pretty well inclined in the wrong direction, we
must not expect to straighten it out by law.

The government is not likely to be better than
the people who govern or are governed. Laws
may assist, and should be enacted to restrain the
unprincipled, and remove temptation from the
weak. But we cannot look with much assurance
to government and the laws alone to solve the
problem of intemperance.

We live in a time of great hope and promise.

180 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

The various temperance societies and church or-
ganizations are drawing out and spreading among
the people the best thought of the age ; and when
the fruit of such efforts is realized, good men will
be elected to office, good laws will be enacted, and
there will be little difficulty in their enforcement.
The problem of intemperance, then, resolves
into this : that men will be likely to become
intemperate and vicious so long as their thoughts
and habits of life unfold from their animal pro-
pensities; and that they will be temperate and
virtuous in proportion as their intellectual facul-
ties and plrysical propensities are modified or con-
trolled by their higher spiritual natures.

NARCOTIC STIMULANTS.

TOBACCO,

We do not wish to magnify the evils arising
from the use of tobacco ; but certainly it is a
habit that does not commend itself to those who
regard cleanliness as being next to godliness.
But the evil does not end with its filthiness. The
use of tobacco weakens the nervous system, blunts
the sensibilities and intellect, and when used by
the young retards growth.

Leading scientific men in France, and eminent
teachers, unite in the opinion that the use of
tobacco is most pernicious to students, and sows
the seeds of many fatal disorders. It is interdicted,
if we mistake not, in the Polytechnic School.
One of the members of the Academy of Medicine,
in a very elaborate paper, drawn up with great
care, asserts that "statistics show that in exact
proportion with the increased consumption of
tobacco is the increase of diseases of the nervous
system, — =- insanity, general paralysis, paraplegia,
and certain cancerous affections."

181

182 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

Many of its devotees are ready to acknowledge
that its use is injurious to both body and mind,
and are inwardly ashamed of themselves for con-
tinuing the habit, and would gladly break them-
selves of it if they had the courage to live a short
time with an unsatisfied desire. But habit has
chained them, and they continue the filthy prac-
tice ; and boys, thinking it manly to imitate them,
contract the habit, only to regret it in after years.

Smoking is considered by many the most gen-
teel mode of using tobacco, but it is undoubtedly
the most injurious. Besides the narcotic effects
peculiar to tobacco, its smoke contains a large
amount of creosote, a principle common to all
smoke. Creosote is an active poison, and is used
by dentists to destroy nerves in decayed teeth.
The smoke of tobacco being drawn in by the vital
breath, its influence is almost immediately felt in
every portion of the lungs and brain. The use of
tobacco by young people tends to dwarf them
physically, mentally, and morally. But its worst
effect is least known and least noticed ; it is its
silent destruction of the system by poisoning the
great nerve-centres, and finally transmitting to pos-
terity a tendency to nervous diseases.

It is evident that paralysis, and diseases of the
heart and nervous system, are making rapid ad-
vance under the use of this narcotic. It is certain

NARCOTIC STIMULANTS. lSo

that there has been an enormous increase of in-
sanity and diseases of the nervous centre among
our people ; and wherever the history of such
cases has been examined, in asylums and hospi-
tals, or in private practice, their connection with
the use of tobacco has been obvious.

Mr. A., aged about fifty, a prominent business
man in this community, has been incapacitated for
business for several years, from the effect of to-
bacco upon his nervous system. He has been
under the treatment of the most celebrated physi-
cians, and has visited different parts of the coun-
try for his health, spending several winters in the
South ; and every means that the best medical ad-
vice could bestow, and wealth and influence could
procure, have been lavished upon him in vain.
He is still in the same deplorable condition, his
nervous system being shattered by the continued
use of this narcotic poison.

We have constantly, in our practice of many
years, had the terrible influence of this poison to
contend with in the treatment of chronic diseases ;
and find it a most potent agent against the estab-
lishment of healthy action, and the regaining of
the wonted power of mind and body. In advising
persons to discontinue its use, we are often con-
fronted by some of their robust friends, who de-
clare that they have used it for twenty years, and

184 THOUGHTS FOR TJIE PEOPLE.

yet retain their health. This does not argue in
favor of the use of tobacco. It is injurious to all,
yet in the indulgence of the appetites much de-
pends on the constitution and habits of the person.
The amount of tobacco that may be taken with
comparative safety by the common laborer in the
open air, or those in whom the physical system
predominates, would soon undermine the health
and ruin the nervous system of the student, or
those in whom the nervous or intellectual faculties
predominate.

Persons who are constitutionally adapted to in-
tellectual labor find that excessive brain-work is
exhausting to the vitality of the system. Hence
many poets, authors, and orators have been led
into the foolish habit of stimulating their brain for
the time being, to accomplish some great success.
But success so obtained is always at the expense
of the constitution, and we find such persons
breaking down in the heyda}^ of life. Clergymen
are not wholly exempt from this fatal practice ;
and though there may be some in the clerical pro-
fession whose vital force is so strong that they
may partially succeed in the ministry, and main-
tain apparently good health under the use of this
weed, we would recommend them to consider
whether their constitutions are not better adapted
to rural pursuits. We believe facts will warrant

NARCOTIC STIMULANTS. 185

the assertion that no person with a predominance
of intellect and nervons excitability necessary to
adapt him to the work of the ministry, can long
sustain faithful labor under the baneful influence
of tobacco.

The Watchman and Reflector, a few years ago,
gave an account of the departure of an ex-Congre-
gational preacher. The writer describes him as a
fine-looking gentleman, in the maturity of his
manhood, who was a noble specimen of our best
New England clergymen. He was a pastor in
Connecticut, and was much beloved and respected
by his hearers. But his brain gave way ; he
found his nerves would not permit him to go on
in his holy vocation, and he retired from his pul-
pit, and went to Vineland for the benefit of his
health ; and he was there regarded as one of the
best Christian citizens. He looked hale and
hearty ; it was the mind that was shattered.

One of the doctors remarked to him one day, —

" Mr. T., why do you not follow your vocation,
and preach the gospel? You look competent to
the task."

" Oh," said he, "I cannot do it. I cannot com-
pose a sermon. My mind will not permit con-
tinuous thought. This is what keeps me from
the work."

In reply, the doctor said, —

186 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

" Allow me to say, then, in all frankness, that
this chaos of the mind is the result of your free
use of tobacco ; and you may expect, as the next
result, paralysis, which may wholly use you up."

He admitted that this might be so, but could
not and would not pledge himself to abstinence.
The will-power of the mind was too far gone to
cope with and break the binding chains of this
miserable slavery. He continued the use of the
weed, and within a few months a paralytic shock
was experienced ; the body and mind at once fell
into ruin. He lingered for a year or more, and
died.

Now, what destroyed this intellectual man,
drove him from the pulpit, and hurried him to the
grave in the zenith of his manhood and capabili-
ties ? Not too much study, nor too much brain or
heart work ; but that deadly poison, nicotine, found
in tobacco.

After many years' observation, we are satisfied
that more students and ministers are broken down,
more minds shattered into chaos and nervous irri-
tability, by narcotics and dissipating stimulants,
than by fasting, prayer, and earnest work. The
body and the mind are made for work ; they will
bear much hard, earnest, and steady labor; but
the nervous system is delicate and complicated,
and will bear but little abuse, and, when goaded

NARCOTIC STIMULANTS. 187

on to desperation by stimulation, will be sure to
make reprisals.

We remember a young and enterprising man,
whose mind gave way under the influence of
tobacco, so that he was incapable of continuous
thought, even while in college. Leaving off its
use for a time, his health rallied so far as to per-
mit him to pursue his studies. After his collegi-
ate education was finished, he decided to prepare
for the ministry, and entered a theological school.
But, returning to his old habit, his mind again
became impaired. After struggling for years to
complete his education, he finally entered the
ministry. But, as the habit was still upon him,
his health gave way, and his mind became again
in the same deplorable condition. He consulted
many physicians, with only temporary relief. We
informed him that he could not recover the tena-
city of his mind and continue the use of tobacco.
He took medicine to clear the secretions and erad-
icate its effects from the system, but he did not
follow our instructions. We met him a few
months after, still struggling under the terrible
influence, apparently unable to break himself of
the pernicious habit.

We might cite thousands of cases of men of
talent and culture in a similar condition, men who
are fully aware that their misery is the result of

188 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

the use of tobacco ; and yet their bodies, minds,
and wills are apparently so under the influence of
this narcotic poison that it seems as if nothing but
the grace of God could restore them. The evils
of the use of this weed do not stop with the shat-
tered nerves of the person using it ; but its more
terrible effects are poisoning the great nerve-
centres, and transmitting to posterity a tendency
to diseases of the nervous system ; and it would
not take much of an anthropologist to discern in
the children of to-day the consequences of these
terrible habits in their progenitors.

It is evident that the extent of the evils arising
from the use of tobacco has not been properly
understood by the people who use it, or even by
those philanthropists who have raised such a ti-
rade against it.

Tobacco often creates a desire for the use of
alcoholic drinks ; and the great prevalence of a
craving thirst among inveterate smokers can be
traced directly to the effects of tobacco upon the
lungs and brain; and because its action is on
those organs, and not on the stomach, the liquors
that are drank do not alleviate the thirst, but
often aggravate it. These facts are worthy of
attention; and it is time that medical men, and
reformers generally, should give this subject more
than a passing notice.

NARCOTIC STIMULANTS. 189

OPIUM.

It is estimated that there are thousands in our
cities in the daily habit of using morphia, opium,
or laudanum, for the purpose of intoxication.
Opium, in its crude state, is sometimes bought,
and greedily eaten on the spot. " They chew
it," says one druggist, "as you would wax."
The crude article, however, is not the favorite
form of the drug among the confirmed opium-
eaters. The action of morphia is much more
rapid in its effects upon the system. The princi-
pal desire of the inebriate is to betake himself, as
soon as possible, to the gorgeous land of fancies,
to which morphine at once transports him. Sul-
phate of morphia is the favorite form of the drug,
and it is in this state that devotees mainly use it.

The most painful consequence of the use of
opium is that it so soon establishes its iron rule
over the system, that very early any deprivation
of the wonted supply may induce indescribable
suffering. Persons addicted to this habit find
they have entered the slavery of a master. They
may for a time, perhaps, be free from acute bodily
suffering under its effects, and may imagine that
they are happy ; but their condition is unnatural.
Refreshing sleep becomes to them a stupor. Far-
ther on in this downward career the victims lose

190 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

all relish for social enjoyment. Their moral sense
becomes deranged and diseased. Conscience ceases
to control. A species of insanity at last becomes
the condition of the mind, and morally and physi-
cally they are wrecks. Worse than this, the
deleterious effects of the habit extend to posterity ;
and the sins of the parents are often visited upon
the children, even unto the third and fourth gen-
erations.

It may be asked, What is the remedy for these
terrible consequences ? We answer, those who
have become addicted to the practice must stop
it forever. But the main hope is to be looked for
in preventing its use among those who are as yet
innocent of the habit, by showing them the terrible
evils consequent upon such a practice, and the
destruction of mind and body which the use of
this drug inevitably entails.

How much of such evil entailed upon the
human race can be traced to the prescriptions and
influence of the medical profession may perhaps
never be known. But it is known that opium in
some form enters largely into the prescriptions
given for almost every form of disease. We be-
lieve a large majority of opium-eaters can trace
their ruin directly to their physician.

Nurses, as well as physicians, are in the habit
of carrying this drug in some form about with

NARCOTIC STIMULANTS. 191

them, that, when the little ones under their charge
manifest the least restlessness, or disposition to
exercise their lungs, they may, by this unnatural
and criminal means, stupefy their senses, thus
saving themselves trouble.

Another fruitful source of this habit is found
in the custom of using the opium found in various
cordials, soothing-sirups, and other nostrums with
which the land is filled ; and God only knows
how great a wrong has been in this way perpe-
trated on humanity. We hope soon to see the
medical profession free themselves from this error
in practice, and from all participation in forming
the habit of opium-eating or dram-drinking.

THE PROBLEM OF HEALTH.

The great prob±em of health has never yet been
solved. For more than six thousand years the
human race has existed on the earth ; many won-
ders have been discovered in earth and sea ; the
arts and sciences have been advanced ; the human
mind has grasped the heavens, annihilated time
and space, — and yet the problem of how to take
care of our own bodies is still involved in mystery,
and will so remain till we develop our complex
nature, and harmonize the physical with the spirit-
ual upon a higher plane of life.

The study of historic man will do little to solve
the problem of health or of human happiness.
We must study human nature as we find it, in a
state of moral, intellectual, and physical disorder,
and point out the way in which we may rise from
our inharmony of mind and body to that divine
and celestial order in which the Creator designed
that we should live. This will require us to look
forward and not backward, and to exercise, not

192

THE PROBLEM OF HEALTH. 193

only the intellectual, but the moral, mental, and
spiritual parts of our natures. Before we, as a
race, can be restored to our pristine glory, we
must conform to the spiritual conditions of our
being, and bring our souls into sympathy and har-
mony with the laws of God.

There is abundant evidence that man was cre-
ated to live at least threescore years and ten ; and
yet the average duration of human life does not
exceed half that period. We certainly have doc-
tors enough, and drugs enough, and patent medi-
cines enough ; but death goes on, sweeping us
away in infancy, in youth, and in middle age,
and the problem of health remains unsolved.

The ages seem to have contributed but little
towards its solution ; and, until recently, human
life as a whole has not been lengthened. Talent
and learning have been lavished upon the subject,
science and art have been brought to bear upon
it; but they have never penetrated to the root of
the maladies connected with our complex nature.
The teachings of medical science have tended to
sunder the mind from the body, ignoring, to a
great extent, the power of mind over matter;
studying the phenomena without discerning their
combined action or reciprocal effects, or rising to
the primary cause of the difficulty. Medical sci-
ence has, therefore, failed in its chief object, being

194 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

superficial, relating only to visible effects, and re-
moving only temporary symptoms.

True science is a knowledge of things in their
causes. An intelligent system of medication aims
to remove, not only the external symptoms, but
also the causes and sources of human suffering.
Without regard to this great aim and object, med-
ical practice is scarcely worthy of respect, as it
does little towards solving the great problem of
health, or enlarging our conceptions of man's life
and destiny.

Physicians are inclined to be satisfied with their
routine practice, feeling that man's physical, intel-
lectual, and moral disorders are so complicated,
and the various causes so diversified and obscure,
that they cannot be reached, and brought into har-
mony. But, under all these coverings of physical
and moral ills, the philosophical and spiritually
developed mind will discern the recuperative
powers of nature ; will find the laws of God tem-
pered with mercy ; principles, in the exercise of
which man may rise from this state of moral
degradation, — doubts and fears on the one hand,
and physical suffering and premature death on the
other, — and be lifted into a clearer light, and a
purer atmosphere.

But how to solve this problem is a question
fraught with the most momentous interest. It

THE PROBLEM OF HEALTH. 195

certainly can never be solved by stagnant cess-
pools, neglected drainage, and ill-ventilated apart-
ments ; by the squalor and filth of tenement
houses, where human beings are forced to breathe
air contaminated by poisonous exhalations. The
problem will not be solved by our present manner
of living, — indulgence in rich foods at untimely
hours, or the use of articles of consumption which
have been injuriously adulterated at the hands of
the manufacturers and dealers, the unhealthy
manner of dressing, or the great social evils that
war against the best interests of humanity. Its
solution will never be rendered less dubious by
drunkenness and degradation, brawls and carou-
sals, or the more respectable intemperance of the
man of wealth at his home board, by the use of
tobacco or opium in their multitudinous forms, or
by other vicious habits and practices which are
rapidly increasing, and have become a part of the
popular life. We cannot look for its solution in
the alarming results attendant upon the laws of
hereditary descent, entailing upon children and
grandchildren an endless heritage of moral, men-
tal, and physical misery.

All these can never solve the problem of health,
and yet their relation to its solution is intimate
and vital. If disease and premature death are
dependent upon these many and varied causes,

196 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE

then the problem of health will be solved in so far
as these causes and their consequent results are
obviated or avoided. The solution lies in a
knowledge of, and obedience to, the laws and
principles which govern our entire being, — a
knowledge of the higher spiritual nature, and the
harmony of its reciprocal action upon our physical
organization and upon our daily life.

It has generally been supposed that medical
knowledge must be confined to medical men, and
that the more ignorant the people were upon
medical subjects, the more perfectly could physi-
cians perform their duty. Whatever of truth
there may have been in this supposition, it is cer-
tain that little effort has been made by physicians
to diffuse information among the people. It is
not to be expected that every man can be his own
doctor, any more than he can be his own minister,
merchant, or mechanic. But every person should
be so educated and instructed as to have a general
knowledge of the laws of trade, that he may be
able to transact business correctly ; of the laws of
his country, that he may avoid their penalties ; of
medicine and his physical constitution, that he
may avoid sickness and premature death ; of his
spiritual nature, and the principles of Christian-
ity, that his aspirations may reach after God, and
influence him to live a consistent Christian life.

THE PROBLEM OF HEALTH. 197

The supposition that a general diffusion of
knowledge would wrork to the disadvantage of the
medical profession, is not true of those who use
such means as act in harmony with the laws of
life. I believe that a general diffusion of knowl-
edge would promote the interest of every true
physician, and afford the strongest possible safe-
guard for the people against charlatans and quacks
in the medical profession, and against imposition
in every business department of life.

The knowledge of medicine is the sister and
companion of wisdom; and just so far as people
are instructed in the nature of their formation,
the means of preserving health, the character
of diseases and their legitimate remedies, will
they look with faith and confidence to the true
physician.

We would like to sec all possessed of sufficient
knowledge of the human system, of diseases and
their means of cure, of hygiene and all the laws of
life, that in an emergency they may be able to do
something for the relief of the sick ; or, in case of
accident, to perform such duties as may be neces-
sary to preserve life, at least till a physician can
be called.

I have known accidents where men have bled
to death while surrounded by persons apparently
of ordinary intelligence, when the pressure of a

198 THOUGHTS FOE THE PEOPLE.

finger upon the bleeding arteries would have
stopped the blood immediately, and have saved
their lives till the arrival of a physician to take
up the arteries and properly dress their wounds.

I remember being called to a person bleeding
from the nose, after much skill had been used
in vain in plugging the nostril with various ar-
ticles. The bleeding in this instance was from
the facial artery, and the pressure of the finger
upon the blood-vessel where it passes over the
lower jaw stopped the bleeding instantly. After
continuing the pressure for a few minutes, till the
open vessels were closed, there was no danger of
further bleeding. I mention these cases here to
show how simple and how easy it is to afford re-
lief where a little intelligence and practical com-
mon sense can be brought into use.

For the solution of the problem of health, we
must look deeper than the treatment of disease.
A physician's duties are not confined to dispens-
ing pills and potions, but should include the edu-
cation of the people in all that pertains to their
welfare. This education is not to be obtained
altogether by instruction in medicine and hygiene,
but by raising to a higher standard the moral as
well as the physical nature ; by directing atten-
tion to all those points which tend to maintain
health, promote human happiness, better the life

THE PROBLEM OF HEALTH. 199

of the individual, and improve the general well-
being of society.

Nations are made up of individuals, each in
some degree affecting the whole body. As are
the individuals, so will the nation be. In indi-
viduals, disease of any limb or organ affects the
whole system. In nations, ignorance and vice
cannot be confined to individual sufferers. A
neglect of sanitary precautions, filthy houses and
surroundings, breed squalid people, foster disease,
poverty, immorality, and crime. Ignorance makes
superstition possible, superstition makes true re-
ligion impossible ; and where superstition and
irreligion prevail, the true interests of community
are not regarded, and the problem of health must
consequently remain a mystery.

It is apparent that each person, if he would live
out his allotted time, must be to some extent his
brother's keeper. The old question is still re-
peated, " Am I my brother's keeper ? " It is not
necessary that we should rise up and veritably
slay our brother for his blood to cry out against
us. I am my brother's keeper that he injure not
his own health, or take his own life through igno-
rance, when it is within my power to enlighten
him. This is what each man should feel, for it is
the true process of reasoning; and, believing that
I am my brother's keeper, I have, to the best

200 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

of my ability, shown him rather how to prevent
than to cure disease. I have endeavored to incul-
cate into the minds of the people that it is far
better, far more meritorious, to keep the enemy
out of the field, than to vanquish him in battle ;
that it is better to avoid than to heal sickness,
and to save to the individual and the community
the time, the money, and the suffering which are
the penalties of negligent or ignorant violation
of the laws of health ; and, where the sins of the
parents are visited upon the children, to enable
these innocent sufferers to counteract as far as
possible the effects of their hereditary predisposi-
tions, and render them better fitted to bear their
misfortune.

The proper authority should always see that
oar cities and villages, and their surroundings, are
kept clean and wholesome. A neglect of this
duty may be followed at any time by contagious
diseases, which may spread and endanger the lives
of those who think themselves most fortunate, and
who are not willing to acknowledge the common
brotherhood of man, or act upon the higher law
that makes us all our brother's keeper.

Until the principle of this higher law of our
nature is understood, and universally acted upon,
we shall never be free from physical and moral
ills, and the problem of health will not be solved.

THE PROBLEM OF HEALTH. 201

Health of body is so intimately connected with
the aims and objects of life, and with the spiritual
nature of man, that the question can never be
solved except by embracing in our faith and works
the whole nature of man, and his relations to his
Maker. When men will recognize the fundamen-
tal principle of our being, and universally act
upon it, following the precepts of our Saviour,
doing to others as we would that others should do
unto us, we shall be saved, body and soul, and the
problem of health and human happiness will be
solved.

I have spoken with the utmost freedom upon
what I believe to be the great causes of suffering,
disease, and death among our people ; and if I
have been unduly severe in my treatment of the
baneful habits and ruinous practices indulged in
so widely at the present day, I make no apology,
believing that all who are not for the right are
against it, and that he who countenances physical
or moral wrong opposes improvement and reform,
and by his acts proves recreant to the welfare of
his people.

SANITARY SCIENCE.

DRAINAGE.

Drainage has occupied the attention of most
civilized nations. The records of ancient history
prove that, as the sanitary condition of the people
was regarded, its importance became recognized.
Previous to the introduction of drains and sewers
in cities, it was customary to remove, by means
of carts and hand conveyances, all kinds of offal
and filth to the country, some water-course, or
other general depository. This was sometimes
done by the occupants of houses, who took it
directly from their premises, or threw it into the
streets, whence it was removed by the public
authorities, sometimes not for clays or weeks.
This filthy condition of the cities may be consid-
ered one of the principal causes of the dreadful
ravages of disease during the Middle Ages and
during the last century.

It can hardly be asserted that in regard to the
sewerage of cities and large towns modern civiliza-
tion has made much progress. Rome, six centu-
202

SANITARY SCIENCE. 203

ries before the Christian era, with less than two
millions of inhabitants, had a system of sewerage
that would compare favorably with that of Boston
or New York. Tarqninius Priscus (B.C. 635)
built the cloaca maxima. Its foundations were
laid forty feet under ground; and its branches
were carried under a great part of the city, and
concentrated in one grand trunk, which discharged
itself into the Tiber, west of the Capitoline Hill.
It was formed by three arches, one within the
other, the innermost of which was a semicircular
vault, fourteen feet in diameter. Its mouth,
where it enters the Tiber, still exists. A cart
loaded with hay could pass through it. Agrippa,
when he cleansed the sewers, passed through them
in a boat.

Agrigentum (B.C. 480) was also celebrated for
the extent of its sewers. Jerusalem, the City of
the Great King, had an admirable system of sewer-
age; and its water-works are scarcely surpassed
by those of the Schuylkill, Croton, or Cochituate
of our time.

With all our boasted advancement in literature,
art, and science, it is humiliating that the impor-
tant consideration of drainage has received so little
attention, and the facilities for draining have been
so little improved.

I believe that much sickness, suffering, and

204 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

death might be prevented by a thorough examina-
tion into their causes, and by an intelligent under-
standing and enforcement of the conditions and
the laws of sanitary science. These subjects have
not secured that attention from the authorities,
from physicians, or from the people generally,
that their importance demands. It is true that
frequent warnings have been given by physicians
and through the press regarding the danger of
defective drainage, or of not properly disposing
of house waste ; and yet many housekeepers live
in utter neglect of all precautions, and kitchen
drains and cesspools send forth their poisonous,
emanations, and general ill health and frequent
fevers and death are the result.

The immediate and fatal effects of such neglect
are perhaps more apparent during the hot season ;
but they are always disastrous to health. Scar-
latina, diphtheria, typhoid fever, and other mani-
festations of disease, often prevail to such an
extent as to spread consternation, terror, and
death through neighborhoods, villages, and cities ;
and, notwithstanding the apparently mysterious
character of some of these maladies, there seems
to be no doubt that their prevalence is largely
owing to causes which are within the control of
the sanitary agencies which should be possessed
and enforced in every community. Defective and

SANITARY SCIENCE. 205

deficient sewerage and ventilation are the evils
that produce that subtle poison which generates
in the air, and which is so fatal because it is
breathed directly into the system, and attacks the
very citadel of life. We shall therefore find no
antidote so effective as attention to the ordinary
hygienic conditions with which we should all be
familiar. True science will demonstrate the cir-
cumstances under which this class of diseases is
produced ; and medicine, in harmony with nature's
laws, may reveal the true mode of treatment. But
observation of proper sanitary laws is the best pre-
vention of disease, and the only efficient protection
for any community.

In large cities the perfection of the system of
sewerage is of the utmost importance. As these
sewers extend through the whole city, the conse-
quences of a defect in them are wide and lasting.
The gases from them are of the most noxious kind,
their poisons are most detrimental to persons who
are obliged to inhale them, and without the utmost
care they will work their way into dwellings.

The action of wind and tide upon the outlets
of sewers often creates a pressure which forces
these gases through cesspools into many of our
houses, necessitating the provision of some venti-
lation or outlet to relieve this pressure. In Boston
this has been partially accomplished by omitting

206 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

the usual cesspool, and opening the water-conduc-
tors directly into the common sewer; and there
are now twenty thousand of these opening in this
manner, the upper ends of some of which are so
situated as to discharge these foul odors near the
windows of sleeping apartments. The vitiated
material contained in these gases, mixing with the
atmospheric air, gradually descends towards the
earth, to exert its baleful influence upon pedes-
trians, as well as the inmates of houses.

The bad air from sewers is, however, not simply
injurious when it escapes directly into houses ; it
is hardly less so in going out through its natural
outlets on the skirts of the city, where it poisons
the atmosphere, and being blown about, becomes
a fruitful source of general ill health to the people.
Instead of sewerage being discharged on river-flats
or about wharves, it should be carried down to
deep water. When this is not practical, instead
of ventilation through water-conductors, sewers
should be extended to some convenient locality
out of the thickly settled portion of the city,
where ample means should be provided for their
ventilation through disinfectants or filters, which
would neutralize the noxious gases, and allow
only pure air to pass.

The necessity of drainage is by no means con-
fined to cities and dwellings. The importance of

SANITARY SCIENCE. 207

the system renders it necessary to extend our in-
vestigations, and include all localities where it is
necessary to prevent the stagnation of water, or
the premature decay of vegetable matter. The
necessity of this view of the subject is proved by
the fact that in the low, swampy parts of our
Western States fever and ague prevail to such an
extent as to become a fearful calamity. But
when the land is drained and cleared, and the
sunlight, with its vivifying influence, allowed to
penetrate, the same districts become healthy, and
such diseases almost entirely disappear. It is safe
to assert that most of the low, putrid forms of
disease, which have prevailed to such an alarming
extent, and which have been supposed to be con-
tagious, are only epidemic, manifesting themselves
in such localities, and attacking such individuals,
as are found most susceptible to their influence ;
the disease, in each individual case, being pro-
duced by the same general cause, and not trans-
mitted from one person to another, as is the case
with contagious diseases. The fact that many
persons in the same neighborhood have been at-
tacked simultaneously, and that several persons
in the same family have taken the disease, one
after another, does not disprove this assertion.
Such diseases are epidemic, and the result of the
same general cause, manifestly, to a great extent,

208 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

under the control of man, and which might have
been removed, and such fearful consequences
avoided.

If such diseases are not wholly produced by-
causes within our reach, they are certainly aggra-
vated and rendered more fatal by the foul emana-
tions which are the result of neglect of sanitary
laws.

Whatever may be the primary cause of this class
of diseases, it is certain that there are various ex-
citing causes acting upon the system in certain
localities, and at particular times, which make
them more putrid and fatal, and which cause
them to spread through families or neighborhoods.
From this fact many have been led to suppose
them contagious ; but careful observation has dis-
covered that there is no manifestation of contagion
in their operation. Pure air is necessary to health ;
and we cannot breathe vitiated air without con-
taminating the blood, and filling the system with
accumulations of morbid material, which tend to
produce ill health and shorten human life.

Buildings erected upon land artificially made by
filling up low, wet places with a mixture of filth
and soil are exceedingly unhealthy. The same is
true in cities where the filth of the bays and inlets
has been filled in for building purposes. Boston
has been remarkable for its progress in this direc-

SANITARY SCIENCE. 209

tion. Mountains have been "removed and cast
into the sea, and the sea made dry land." In this
way thousands of acres have been reclaimed from
the sea, and thousands of dwellings have been
built thereon ; but we fear that, where there has
been a large quantity of filth at the bottom, it will
prove injurious to the health of the citizens, and
react upon the prosperity of the city.

The saying, " there is nothing hidden that shall
not be revealed," is nowhere more perfectly dem-
onstrated than in this instance. There is a con-
tinual foul odor emanating from land thus made ;
and not only the odor, but the filth and corruption,
must inevitably come to the surface. The effects
of such emanations may often be seen in the
stained and discolored walls of the basement
rooms. Persons dwelling in such unwholesome
houses lose their appetite, become listless and en-
feebled, the health gradually fails ; and, if they do
not seek a more healthy location, they will be
likely to become confirmed invalids.

In our large cities it is a common practice to
bestow great care upon the sanitary condition of
streets and sewers in portions of the city occupied
by the more fortunate class of citizens, and to
allow portions occupied by the poor and unfortu-
nate to become filthy and unwholesome. But this
is a great mistake. The squalid regions should

210 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

receive by far the larger share of public attention,
not only because they are occupied by a far larger
number of people on an equal space, but by people
who, on account of their ignorance and poverty,
are much less cleanly in their habits and in the
care of their dwellings. These portions of the
city should be kept in perfect order, and no accu-
mulation of filth should be allowed in the streets
and alleys. And our care should not stop outside
these dwellings of poverty. People who do not
exercise the least care in regard to the sanitary
condition of their dwellings should be cared for by
the city fathers ; and every dwelling that is unfit
for habitation should be immediately put in proper
sanitary condition, or removed. This care is not
alone a matter of charity towards the poor, but of
self-protection to the community. The foul, fetid
gases which arise in the overcrowded and neg-
lected districts bear the seeds of disease and death,
not only to the starved denizens of these wretched
dwellings, but are carried on the wings of the
wind to every street and avenue, invading the
mansions of the rich as well as the dwellings of
the poor. We should not be slow to learn and to
realize that the law of common humanity is also
a law of compensation, and will distribute its re-
venge as well as its reward ; and that neglect of
duty towards the poor and destitute will surely

SANITARY SCIENCE. 211

revenge itself upon every community which does
not insist upon the enforcement of proper sanitary
laws. We must make all parts of the city clean
and wholesome, and permit no hot-beds of disease
to reek and fester in our streets or in our
borders. When we, as a people, fully learn this
great lesson of humanity and of common prudence,
we shall have reached one of the most important
points of all past investigation upon the subject of
sanitary science.

THE COUNTRY.

The same causes which increase the rates of
mortality in our large cities act to a certain ex-
tent in every village and every farm-house. The
air is more or less poisoned by filth wherever
drains are neglected, and the waste matter of
houses and yards is allowed to emit its baleful
emanations. From a neglect of proper sanitary
regulations, many comparatively small villages are
rendered more unhealthy than large cities. Hotels
and boarding-houses at the seaside and other
places of public resort, where people have gone for
rest and recreation, have become hospitals for the
sick by defective drainage and the accumulation
of filth about the buildings. Let hotel and board-
ing-house keepers, as well as private families, give
special attention to the matter of cleanliness, out-
side as well as inside their dwellings.

212 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

CELLARS.

Fever and other fatal diseases are often caused
by foul air from dark, damp, and unventilated
cellars. Confined air, without the purifying influ-
ence of sunlight, soon becomes impure and un-
wholesome. Cellars often serve as reservoirs for
impure air, which, in addition, is often loaded
with decomposed organic matter and foul gases,
from the masses of decaying vegetables with
which they are stored. Cellars should be kept
as clean, pure, and well-ventilated as any portion
of the house.

We must recognize the fact that every house,
village, and neighborhood breeds its own epidemic,
and needs its sanitary protection. It is not
enough to have doctors and apothecaries ; they are
called on after the mischief is done. A little wis-
dom, a little forethought, a little care, and a tri-
fling expense, might have rendered their services
unnecessary. Where we find disease or general
ill health prevailing in any household or neighbor-
hood, we may well suspect that it is dependent
upon some local cause, for which somebody ought
to be responsible. It may seem improper to inter-
fere with a neighbor's yard, or sink-drain, or cess-
pool, and especially with his in-door arrangements ;
but if it be the means of saving the lives of your

SANITARY SCIENCE. 213

children and those of your neighbors, it is cer-
tainly somebody's business to interfere, and abate
such nuisances. If epidemic diseases are not pro-
duced by such influences directly, they certainly
are rendered more malignant and fatal. The true
course, then, is to appoint an efficient sanitary
committee, have an examination, make a report,
and then go to work in earnest to make such
reforms as may be needed. A few days' labor,
and a few dollars expended, may save lives that
we would not have lost for millions.

VENTILATION.

The subject of ventilation is not properly under-
stood, or, if comprehended, its laws are not re-
garded. Our houses, halls, and churches are
constructed without sufficient regard to the fact
that fresh air is necessary for the preservation of
life and health. The arterialization of the blood
in the lungs is essentially dependent on the sup-
ply of oxygen contained in the air which we
breathe ; and that air is fit or unfit for respiration
in exact proportion as its quantity of oxygen ap-
proaches to, or differs from, that contained in pure
atmospheric air.

The report of our board of health has few more
interesting revelations than those which relate to
the evil effects of bad air. In fact, there are few

214 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

of the evils alluded to in this view of the sanitary
condition of our cities that are not in some way
connected with an impure condition of the air.
All decomposition and decay necessarily affect the
purity of the atmosphere ; and the very act of
breathing in a confined space vitiates the air, and
makes it unfit for the purposes of our animal
economy. The ventilation of our schoolhouses is
therefore of primary importance. It appears that
the proportion of carbonic acid in the atmosphere
of our schoolrooms averages 1.18, while it has
been shown by eminent English and German sani-
tarians that the amount becomes injurious when it
reaches 0.6 or 0.7 per thousand, the proportion in
pure air being 0.4 per thousand. An analysis of
the particles of dust that float in the air of our
schoolrooms shows them to be the result of the
changes which are constantly going on in our
social economy, and which require to be neutral-
ized by an abundant supply of fresh air. Some of
these minute substances are not easily seen ; and it
is these organic elements, exuding from the lungs
and the skin, which are even more injurious than
the effluvia which comes from the clothing of the
scholars. It was noticeable that in those school-
rooms where carbonic acid impurity was most
marked, there was also the most offensive odor,
showing that the pollution of the air is greatest

SANITARY SCIENCE. 215

among those classes who are least attentive to the
laws of cleanliness.

Our sleeping apartments, where we all spend
about one-third part of our lives, should be large
and well ventilated, and should be constantly sup-
plied with pure air. It may not be well to allow
it to blow directly upon us ; it may be admitted
from a window behind a screen, or into an adjoin-
ing apartment, and thence through an open door
into the room. The importance of securing free
ventilation will be seen when we reflect that the
demand for air for a single person is, upon an
average, about seven cubic feet a minute. Sup-
pose, now, that a sleeping-room contains two
thousand cubic feet. A person goes into such a
room, and closes the door, and the supply lasts the
occupant about five hours ; and for the remainder
of the night he must continue to breathe over and
over again the same air, which could not sustain
life were the room perfectly tight. He is kept
alive by being partially supplied with air through
the crevices in the walls and about the doors and
windows. But a person spending the night in this
manner is not refreshed; and a continued habit of
sleeping in a contracted and ill-ventilated room
will in time induce headache, dizziness, dyspepsia,
and a host of kindred diseases.

Now, let us keep these facts in view in an ex-

216 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

animation of our modes of ventilation. We inhale
oxygen, or vital air, and throw off carbonic acid
gas, — a gas which, being specifically heavier than
pure air, when left undisturbed will settle to the
bottom of the room, as it does in deep cellars,
wells, and mines, where, if inhaled, it often proves
destructive to life. Sudden deaths may not often
occur in our living- or sleeping-rooms from inhala-
tion of vitiated air. The evil, however, is none
the less fatal ; it does its work slowly, it may be,
but surely. The system of ventilation adopted
in our private and public buildings is radically
defective. The old-fashioned fireplace was a good
ventilator, and to it may in a great measure be
attributed the fact that the mothers and daughters
of the past generation were healthier and ruddier
than the enfeebled matrons and sallow-complex-
ioned daughters of the present day.

When we closed up the old-fashioned fireplace,
we neglected to provide a substitute ; and much
sickness, suffering, and ill health have been the
result. What is really needed in every building,
public or private, are two compartments, built in
connection with the chimney, for ventilation; one
of them being near the flue, so as to be contin-
ually kept warm, the other away from it, where
the air in it will be kept cool. Every room
should ventilate at the bottom into the cold-air

SANITARY SCIENCE. 217

flue, so as to let the carbonic acid gas, which is
heavier than the atmospheric air, and settles to
the bottom of the room, pass down to the earth;
and from near the top of each room into the
warm-air flue, to allow the impurities and gases
which are lighter than the air, and which always
rise to the top, to pass off into upper space.

On winter evenings, when gaslight is used, —
the gas being also a rapid consumer of oxygen, —
in the ball-room, public assembly, church, or lec-
ture-room, we suffer seriously from the impurity
of the atmosphere in consequence of imperfect
ventilation ; and, instead of emerging from the
winter season with invigorated health, spring gen-
erally finds us weakened and debilitated. By the
exercise of a little intelligence and common sense,
we may so regulate our habits and conduct as to
avoid much of the physical and moral evils under
which we are now suffering. We commend this
subject to the earnest attention of our school
committee, to parents, guardians, and teachers
everywhere ; and we hope it will receive some-
thing more than a passing notice.

DISINFECTANTS AND DEODORIZERS.

Infection and foul odors cause a variety of
diseases. They both arise from decomposition
and decay of vegetable or animal matter, or both.

218 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

To deodorize is to take away the bad smell. To
disinfect is not only to do this, bnt to arrest the
progress of decay, and thus cut off the supply of
a bad odor. Our grandmothers thought they got
rid of the ill odor of a sick-room by burning brown
sugar or tar. This gave a strong and more agree-
able odor; it overpowered the other, so that it
was not perceived, but did not destroy it. Both
odors were really present ; and the air was equally
impure, only more agreeable to the senses. Hence,
to deodorize foul air in a room or locality intelli-
gently, substances must be used which, by causing
a new chemical combination, destroy the odor
altogether; but if the decomposition continues to
go on, other odoriferous particles begin to arise,
requiring a new application of the deodorizer.
On this account all deodorizers are efficient only
temporarily; hence the only rational method is
either to remove the offending material, or employ
disinfectants which arrest further decay. If the
material both arrests the decay and destroys or
absorbs the offensive odor, it is doubly valuable.
Two hundred grains of chloride of zinc in one
gallon of water is a powerful agent in neutraliz-
ing bad smells, and in arresting both animal and
vegetable decomposition in ships, hospitals, dis-
secting-rooms, cellars, privies, and water-closets,
without having any bad odor of its own. For

SANITARY SCIENCE. 219

disinfecting purposes, mix one pint of the above
fluid with four gallons of water.

There are three powerful disinfectants — car-
bolic acid (with an objectionable smell), chlorine,
and permanganate of potash. These last two are
quite expensive. These disinfectants act by com-
bining with deleterious substances and rendering
them harmless, while antiseptics prevent and
arrest the decomposition of animal substances.

The only effectual way of disinfecting an un-
healthy locality is to remove the cause of the
trouble, and prevent its recurrence by thorough
ventilation and habitual cleanliness.

The most common and available disinfectant
and deodorizer is copperas, — crude copperas, —
sold by druggists at a few cents a pound, under
the name of -sulphate of iron; one pound in two
gallons of water, used as often as necessary, will
render all odors imperceptible, acting at the same
time as an antiseptic, deodorizer, and disinfectant.
For disinfecting cesspools and water-closets noth-
ing can be better. By this means the most filthy
water-closet may in a few moments be rendered as
sweet as any part of the house.

On board ships and steamboats, about hotels
and other public places, there is nothing better to
purify the air. Simple copperas, in a vessel with
sufficient water to dissolve it, and placed in the

220 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

room, will render a hospital, or other place for the
sick, free from unpleasant smells. In butchers'
stalls, fish-markets, slaughter-houses, sinks, and
wherever there are offensive putrid gases, dissolve
copperas, and sprinkle it about, and the smell will
soon pass away.

VALUE OF SUNLIGHT.

The proper use of sunlight, and its relations
to human life and the well-being of society, have
never been made the subject of intelligent and
scientific thought.

Light is one of the most active agencies in
enlivening and beautifying our homes and the
material world around us. People do not suffi-
ciently realize the value of sunlight as a health-
giving agent to the physical system, or of its
importance to our moral and spiritual natures.
We absorb light, and it nourishes us with strange
power. We are more active under its influence,
can think better, and work more vigorously.

And yet the object of many mothers and nurses
seems to be to devise means to keep the sunlight
from their dwellings. All persons must know, if
they do not realize, that shutting out the light of
the sun is a direct violation of nature's laws, for
which the community pays dearly in sickness and
loss of life. Care should be taken, both in health
and sickness, to insure a large amount of direct
221

222 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

sunlight, if possible, to all the inmates of every
dwelling. Parents and nurses should remember
that it is impossible to rear well-formed, strong,
and robust children unless attention is paid to
this requirement. Sunlight is particularly impor-
tant in childhood and to persons of low vitality.
In all diseases characterized by a deficiency of vi-
tal power, the rays of the sun should be allowed
to act directly upon the person every day. It
may not be well to allow its rays to fall directly
upon the head; but its vivifying effects upon the
body and limbs, and also upon the mind, are won-
derful, and should not be neglected. In conva-
lescence from almost all diseases, the light of the
sun acts as a most powerful and healthful stimu-
lant, both to the mental and physical systems. It
may often be necessary that sick persons should
be kept quiet, and away from the noise and ex-
citement of company ; but I insist upon it that
they should not be deprived of the smiling coun-
tenance of that old friend and nurse — the sun.
It may be necessary in diseases of the eye to ex-
clude the light for a time. But the evil effects of
keeping invalids in darkness and obscurity cannot
be too carefully guarded against. The weakness
and depression of spirits which are so often met
with in convalescents kept in the dark disappear
like magic when the rays of the sun are allowed

VALUE OF SUNLIGHT. 223

to enter the chambers. Wounds of every kind
heal with greater rapidity when the diffused light
of the solar rays is allowed to shine directly upon
the person. It has always been a subject of no-
tice by physicians who interest themselves in the
sanitary condition of society, that in hospitals, pa-
tients occupying the sunny side of the buildings
recover much more rapidly than those in less fa-
vored rooms. In epidemics of all kinds, persons
living upon the sunny side of streets, or in sunny
localities, have escaped with comparatively little
sickness ; while the inhabitants of the shady side
of streets and dark alleys have suffered a terrible
penalty for a violation of this law of life. God
has supplied sunlight sufficient for all the crea-
tures of his hand ; and so long as we refuse to ac-
cept of it, and insist upon building our habitations
and cities in violation of this law, so long will we
pay the penalty by ill health and premature death.
Plants cannot be perfected without the vivify-
ing influence of sunlight. Rooms from which
light and air are excluded will accumulate ele-
ments that engender disease and death. Dark
rooms always bring depression of spirits, impart-
ing a sense of confinement, of isolation, of power-
lessness, which is chilling and deadening to the
energy of both body and mind. It is a fearful
mistake to curtain and blind windows so closely,

224 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

for fear of injuring the furniture by exposure to
the sun's rays.

Let us have light, and fresh air too, and pre-
vent, if possible, suffering the penalty of aches
and pains and long doctors' bills. Let us take
the airiest, choicest, and sunniest rooms in the
house for our living-rooms, — the workshop where
brain and body are built up and renewed. Let
us have as many windows as we can, through
which the sunlight and pure air can freely enter.
To me these windows mean much more than was
ever intended or dreamed of by the architect.
They are the poems of the house. They serve to
bring out and develop the hidden power of the
soul, and give scope and freedom to the eye and
to the mind.

Let us have light, bright countenances, and
cheerful hearts in all our homes ; and if our car-
pets are a little faded, let us raise our eyes to
the open windows, and take a view of the fields
clothed in beauty, or the heavens radiant with
glorious light.

Let us live in the light, and insist upon the
light and life-giving influence of the sun in our
dwellings, in our churches, and in all our places
of resort.

It is still more important to us, as spiritual
beings, that we receive into the " home we live

VALUE OF SUNLIGHT. 225

in " light from the Sun of righteousness. Let
us open wide the windows of our hearts, brush
away the cobwebs of sin by the atonement of our
Saviour, and live and walk in the light, that when
we have finished our course in this world of light
and shade, we may be accounted worthy of ac-
ceptance in that better world, where we hope to
enjoy the light and the substance, without the
shade and the shadow.

IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP.

As daylight and darkness are the unalterable
law of nature, so, in harmony with this law, we
find motion and rest, activity and repose, essential
to our existence. As all motion implies waste of
substance, the continued activity of body and
mind would soon wear them out if there were
not some means provided for their restoration.

Thousands of busy people ruin the health, and
many die every year, for want of sleep. Sleepless-
ness often becomes a habit, and is very injurious
to health. It sometimes results from disease,
showing unmistakable evidence of a breaking
down of the mental powers, and is often a pre-
cursor of insanity. When it does not reach that
sad result, it is still full of peril, as well as of
suffering. Thousands of men have been indebted
for bad bargains, for lack of courage, and ineffec-
tiveness, to loss of sleep.

It is curious that all the popular poetical repre-
sentations of sleeping and waking are the reverse
of the truth. We speak of sleep as the image of
226 .

IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP. 227

death, and our waking hours as the image of life.
But the activity is the result of some form of de-
composition in the body. Every thought, still
more every motion or volition, wastes some part
of the nervous substance, precisely as flame is pro-
duced by wasting the fuel. It is the death of
some part of the physical substance that produces
the phenomena of intelligent and voluntary life.

On the other hand, sleep is not like death ; it
is the period in which the waste of the system is
reduced to its minimum. Healthy and natural
sleep repairs the waste which the waking hours
have made. It rebuilds the system. The night
is the repair-shop of the body. In the relaxed
condition of the system during natural sleep,
every part is silently overhauled, and all the or-^
gans, tissues, and substances are replenished.
Waking consumes, sleep replaces ; waking ex-
hausts, sleep repairs.

The perfect adaptation of means to ends, and
the economy which is manifested in all nature, are
beautifully shown in the processes by which this
renovation of the system is carried on. The
amount of vital force necessarily expended in the
labors of the day is, during sleep, employed to in-
crease the involuntary processes ; thus the func-
tions of the nutritive system are carried on with
more vigor, the circulation of the blood and other

228 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

fluids of the economy is greatly facilitated. The
diminished action of the ganglionic nerves of mo-
tion and sensation affords an increased supply of
cerebral stimulus to the secretory and execu-
tory organs, and the waste and worn-out particles
are, during sleep, thrown off from the system in
greater profusion ; while, at the same time, the
process of rebuilding the system goes on with
increased activity. In this manner the system is
at night renovated, and prepared for the labor of
the ensuing day.

We live by a process of destruction. Force
in the human body is manifested by the decompo-
sition of its component particles. Life manifests
itself as a result of chemical decomposition of
particles ; and as these particles or cells are de-
stroyed and devitalized, they must be removed,
and their places supplied by new cells.

During the daytime the amount of vital force
expended counterbalances, or rather uses up, the
material prepared by digestion and assimilation.
But at night, when the expenditure of force in
voluntary life is at its minimum, not only is the
blood freed from the impurities of worn-out and
broken-down particles, but new tissue is formed.
We grow mostly during sleep ; for then the prod-
ucts of nutrition, which during the day are used
in replacing the constant waste of the system, are

IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP. 229

employed in building new tissue. A child eats
and sleeps far more in proportion than the adult;
and this surplus of nutrition is expended in build-
ing up, or growing.

That the system may be properly repaired dur-
ing sleep, the material must be received and
digested during the day. Food to be in a proper
condition to supply and rebuild the system must
be taken and digested during the waking hours.

That digestion may go on during sleep cannot
be doubted, as any organ of the economy may for
a time be forced to perform more than its normal
amount of labor. But the stomach, after perform-
ing its work during the day, requires rest at
night; and although digestion may go on, sleep
will be disturbed and unref resiling. Thus, by a
reciprocity of action, both are rendered imperfect
and unsatisfactory.

The brain and nervous system are also built up
and restored only during sleep.

The man who sleeps little repairs little ; if he
sleeps poorly, he repairs poorly. If he uses up
in a day less than he accumulates at night, he will
gain in health and vigor. If he uses more by day
than he gathers at night, he will lose. And if
this loss be long continued, he will succumb. A
man who would be a good worker must see to it
that he is a good sleeper. An eminent divine

230 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

has compared human life to a mill, sometimes
the stream being so copious that one needs care
but little about its supply. Often the stream that
turns the mill needs to be economized. A dam
is built to hold a larger supply. The mill may
run the pond low through the day ; but, by shut-
ting the gate at night, the pond refills, and the
wheels go merrily round again the next day.

A man has as much force in him as he has pro-
vided for by sleep and the proper assimilation of
food. The quality of action, especially mental
activity, depends upon the quality of sleep and
nutrition.

Such being the necessities of the case, and the
inexorable law of nature, it behooves us, as ra-
tional beings, to study and obey the laws that
govern our physical and mental organization.
The importance of sleep as a recuperative agent
has been almost entirely overlooked ; and many,
even among the learned, act as if they thought
sleep of but little consequence, and the time so
spent lost. But nature has decided otherwise.
The integrity of neither body nor mind can be
long maintained without sleep. Health, happi-
ness, strength of mind, and personal beauty are
as dependent upon sleep as upon any other re-
quirement of the animal economy. When the
whole organization is in a normal condition, and

IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP. 231

becomes wearied, " Tired Nature's sweet restorer,
balmy sleep," steals over us almost unconsciously;
our systems are renewed, and we awake to new
life and joy. But when the mind is overtaxed,
and the body invaded by disease, sleep often
refuses her aid, and the whole system begins to
languish. If the disease is removed, and the sys-
tem again brought into harmony, sleep comes to
our aid, and health is restored.

The time spent in sleep is not always a true
measure of the amount of rest, for sleep va-
ries much in the degree of its completeness ;
there is a slumber so disturbed that we are unre-
freshed by it, and a sleep so profound that we
awake weary. Such conditions of the system are
the result of physical disease, or some inharmony
of mind and body, and should warn us of ap-
proaching danger, which should demand imme-
diate attention.

But as sleep is an absolute necessity of our
being, and as nothing can compensate us for its
loss, it becomes a duty to provide for ourselves,
and those under our care, the best possible means
for supplying the needed quantity of refreshing
and undisturbed sleep. We know that certain
conditions tend to induce sleep, but at times it
comes to us without such favorable conditions and
even in spite of ourselves. Sleep is a fickle god-

232 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

(less, of which we know nothing except by its man-
ifestation. We may by opiates produce a kind of
stupor, — a condition in some respects resembling
sleep ; and sleep may come to us while under the
effects of opium. But the stupor produced by
that drug is not sleep. Sleep is as much a mys-
tery as life, and is beyond our control. It cannot
be induced by any active or positive state of the
will; it is only when the whole system is in an
harmonious state, when every obstacle to it is re-
moved, that it steals over us spontaneously. We
know not from whence it comes or whither it
goeth; we only know that under its magic in-
fluence we receive that recuperation so essential to
our being.

To induce sleep, the recumbent position is most
favorable, as this facilitates the circulation of the
vital fluids. The head should be but slightly
elevated above the level of the shoulders. The
eyes, in their natural and fixed position of sleep,
are slightly inverted, or rolled upward. This
position of the eyeballs, if not strained and artifi-
cial, will aid in the induction of sleep.

The great obstacle to sleep is a want of ability
to suspend active thought. Various methods have
been devised to effect this object, such as count-
ing, etc.; but they only change the direction of
the thought.

IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP. 233

It is evident that those who do the most brain-
work require the most sleep, and yet they are the
ones most likely to suffer from the want of it.
They often become nervous and wakeful from con-
tinued mental effort, necessitating a constant pres-
sure of blood upon the brain, which keeps it in a
stimulated and wakeful state until the pulsations
in the head become absolutely painful, and the
wear and waste of brain and nerve become exces-
sive and prostrating. In this excited condition
of the brain it is impossible to sleep. It is, there-
fore, necessary to stop all excitement, and endeavor
to induce a condition of repose. Failing to pro-
duce this quiescent state, active means should be
adopted to harmonize the system, by withdrawing
the pressure from the brain, and equalizing the
circulation. This may be accomplished by arising
and chafing the body and extremities with a brush
or towel, or rubbing smartly with the hands.
When there is too much excitement of the brain
to be overcome in this manner, a cold bath, a
sponge bath with brisk rubbing, a rapid walk in
the open air, or any active exercise, will aid in
equalizing the circulation and promoting sleep.
These rules are simple, and easy of application,
and may minister to the comfort of thousands who
would freely expend money for an anodyne to
promote sleep.

234 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

Health and long life are almost universally
associated with early rising; and we are referred
to the testimony of old people as evidence of its
good effect upon the general system. But it
should be remembered that early rising, to be
beneficial, must have two concomitants, — not
only must we retire early, but the brain must be
free from excitement, and the system must be in
a condition favorable to repose.

One important advantage of retiring early is,
that the intense stillness of midnight and the
early morning hours favors that unbroken repose
which is the all-powerful renovator of the tired
system. Without, then, the accompaniment of
retiring early, " early rising " is positively mis-
chievous. Every person should be allowed to
"have his sleep out;" otherwise the duties of the
day cannot be properly performed, and will be
necessarily slighted, even by the most conscien-
tious.

As sleep is the only provision in nature for
resting the tired muscles, and rebuilding the ex-
hausted brain and wasting nerves, going to bed is,
therefore, one of the most important acts of our
life, and should always be done well, and with a
desire for sleep, for quiet repose, and for perfect
rest of both body and mind. We must not go to
bed with an overloaded stomach, nor in an anxious

IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP. 235

or troubled state of mind. The body should be
warm, and the whole being should be in harmo-
nious action. Attention to all these conditions
should be followed by such devotional exercises as
will bring all the feelings, emotions, and sentiments
into accord with the divine will, subduing pas-
sions, removing hatred, malice, jealousy, revenge,
and opening the portals of heaven to all who seek
rest, peace, and sweet repose. It is a happy custom
with many to conclude the evening's proceedings
by singing a sweet hymn, — " The day is past
and gone," for instance, — which tends to bring
all present into delightful union with each other,
and with " Our Father which art in heaven."

In infancy and early childhood, while the func-
tions of nutrition are most active, and the waste
of the system is small, nearly the whole time is
passed in eating and sleeping, and building up or
growing. During adult life about one-third of
the twenty-four hours is passed in repose. In old
age, when the nutritive operations are carried on
with less vigor, more sleep is needed, so that the
system may be spared as much as possible.

Every man must sleep according to his tempera-
ment. But eight hours is the average. If one
requires a little more or a little less, he will find
it out for himself. Whoever by work, pleasure,
sorrow, or by any other cause, is regularly dimin-

236 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

ishing his sleep, is destroying his life. A man
may hold out for a time ; but nature keeps close
accounts, and no man can dodge her settlements.
We have seen impoverished railroads that could
not keep the track in order, nor spare the engines
to be thoroughly repaired. Every year track and
equipment deteriorated. By and by comes a
crash, and the road is a heap of confusion and
destruction. So it is with men. They cannot
spare the time to sleep enough. They slowly run
behind. Symptoms of general waste appear.
Premature wrinkles, weak eyes, depression of
spirits, failure of digestion, feebleness in the
morning, and overwhelming melancholy — these
and other signs show a dilapidation. If, now, sud-
den calamity causes an extraordinary pressure,
they go down under it. They have no resources
to draw upon. They have been living up to the
verge of their whole vitality every day.

It is a kind of dissipation for men to overwork
their system every day and undersleep every
night. Some men are dissipated by physical stim-
ulants, and some by social, and some by profes-
sional and commercial. But a man who works
excessively all day, and sleeps but little at night,
is guilty of a direct violation of one of the funda-
mental laws of his being, and must sooner or later
pay the penalty.

IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP. 237

What shall we do? This to many is a very
important and serious question. The trouble is
undoubtedly the result of a diseased condition.
Sleepless people should court the sun. The very
best soporific is sunshine. Therefore, it is very
plain that poor sleepers should pass as many hours
as possible in the sun. Many people are martyrs,
and yet they do not know it. They shut the sun-
shine out of their houses and their hearts ; they
do all possible to keep off the subtlest and yet
most potent influence which is intended to give
them strength, beauty, and cheerfulness.

Eat regularly, and not too much, and always
secure a good digestion, that good material may
be in readiness for repairs. Retire at an early
hour, to give time for rest; sleep in a cool, airy
room. No person can sleep well, or remain
healthy, who breathes confined or bad air. Keep
the skin clean and active. Always dress so as
to keep the body comfortable and warm. Take
proper exercise. Observe all the hygienic laws,
and preserve a clear conscience. If this does not
afford you sound, refreshing sleep, and a reason-
able degree of health, you should consult a phy-
sician who has not only a knowledge of disease
and the human system, but a little practical com-
mon sense, and he will see what is required to
remove the disturbing cause.

USE OF THE NOSTRILS.

People should more fully understand that the
nostrils were made to breathe through, and that
their delicate and fibrous lining is necessary to
remove dust and other foreign substances, to pu-
rify and warm the air in its passage, and to stand
guard over the lungs, especially during the hours
of repose ; and that, by conforming in this respect
to the designs of the Creator, many infectious
fevers and other fatal diseases may be avoided,
and pulmonary complaints lose much of their
fatality. The atmosphere is nowhere pure enough
for man's breathing until it has passed this myste-
rious refining process ; and, therefore, the impru-
dence and danger of admitting it in an unnatural
way upon the lungs, and charged with the sur-
rounding epidemic or contagious infections of the
moment. Especially is this true during the hours
of repose ; and he who sleeps with his mouth open
not only has disturbed sleep, but lets the enemy
in that dries up the saliva of the mouth, injures
the teeth, diseases the throat and lungs, irritates
238

USE OF THE NOSTRILS. 239

the nerves, and racks the brain. Such are the
immediate results of this unnatural habit, and its
continued and more remote effects are comsump-
tion of the lungs, and death.

Breathing of pure air has generally been con-
ceded to be necessary to health; but the manner
of breathing it has not received the attention its
importance demands. Physicians have invented
and recommended the use of respirators to pro-
tect weak and diseased lungs, and they may have
possessed some merit. But the nostrils were un-
doubtedly made for breathing, and the delicate
and fibrous lining for purifying the air in its pas-
sage to the lungs ; and we believe the natural
protection better than any artificial which ever
was or can be invented.

The air which enters the lungs is as different
from that which enters the nostrils as distilled
water is different from the water in an ordinary
cistern. The arresting and purifying process of
the nose upon the atmosphere, with its poisonous
ingredients passing through it, though less percep-
tible, is not less distinct nor less important than
that of the mouth, which stops cherry-stones and
fish-bones from entering the stomach.

The impurities which are arrested by this intri-
cate organization of the nose are thrown out again
from its interior barriers by the returning breath.

240 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

When the delicate tissue becomes inflamed, or has
been partially broken down by catarrh, or by re-
peated colds, so as to allow such impurities to
pass, the extreme sensitiveness of the membrane
beneath produces that muscular involition of
sneezing, by which they are resisted and violently
thrown back.

When this structure has been destroyed by
chronic catarrh, or other causes, the natural safe-
guard to the lungs is gone, and the air is allowed
to pass the nostrils without its proper purification ;
and hence chronic catarrh is often followed by
consumption of the lungs. This fact, though en-
tirely overlooked by physicians generally, is of the
the utmost importance in the treatment of diseases
of the head, throat, and lungs.

This intricate organization in the structure of
man, unaccountable as it is, seems in a measure
divested of mystery when we find the same phe-
nomena in the physical conformation of the lower
order of animals ; and we are again more aston-
ished when we see the mysterious sensitiveness of
that organ, instinctively and instantaneously sep-
arating the gases, as well as arresting and reject-
ing the material impurities of the atmosphere.

It is a known fact that man can inhale through
his nose, for a certain time, mephitic air, in the
bottom of a well, without serious harm ; but if he

USE OF THE NOSTRILS. 241

opens his mouth to answer a question, or calls for
help, thus inhaling the gases through the mouth,
his lungs are closed, and he expires. Most ani-
mals are able to inhale the same for a considerable
time without destruction to life, and, no doubt,
solely from the fact that their respiration is
through the nostrils, in which the poisonous efflu-
via are arrested.

There are many mineral and vegetable poisons
also which can be inhaled by the nose, apparently
without serious harm, but if taken through the
mouth destroy life. And so with poisonous rep-
tiles and poisonous animals. The man who kills
the rattlesnake or the copperhead, and stands
alone over it, keeps his mouth shut, and receives
no harm ; but if he has companions with him, with
whom he is conversing over the carcasses of these
reptiles, he inhales the poisonous effluvia through
the mouth, and becomes deadly sick, and in some
instances death ensues.

Infinitesimal insects, not visible to the naked
eye, are inhabiting every breath of air we breathe ;
and minute particles of vegetable substances, as
well as of poisonous minerals and silex, which
float imperceptibly in the air, are, in diseased con-
ditions of the nostrils, often discovered coating
the respiratory organs of man ; and the class of
birds which catch their food in the air, with open

242 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

mouths as they fly, receive these things in quanti-
ties, even in the hollow of their bones, where they
are carried and lodged by the currents of air, and
detected by microscopic investigation.

Against the approach of these things to the
lungs and to the eye, nature has guarded by the
mucous and organic arrangements calculated to
arrest their progress. Were it not for the liquid
in the eye, arresting and neutralizing poisonous
emanations, and carrying out the particles of dust
communicated through the atmosphere, man wTould
soon become blind ; and but for the mucus in his
nostrils, absorbing and carrying off the poisonous
particles and effluvia for the protection of the
lungs and the brain, mental derangement, con-
sumption of the lungs, and death would sooner or
later ensue.

How easy and how reasonable it is to suppose,
then, that the inhalation of such things into the
lungs through the expanded mouth and throat
may be one of the great causes of consumption
and other fatal diseases attaching to the respira-
tory organs ; and how fair a supposition, also, that
the deaths from dreadful epidemics — such as
cholera, yellow fever, and other pestilences — are
caused by the inhalation of poisonous gases and
diseased germs in the infected districts ; and that
the victims of those diseases are those people who

USE OF THE NOSTBILS. 243

inhale the greatest quantities of those poisons into
the lungs.

In man's waking hours, when his limbs and
muscles and mind are all in action, there may be
but little harm in inhaling through the mouth, if
he be an a healthy atmosphere ; and at moments
of violent action and excitement it may be neces-
sary. But when he lies down at night to rest
from the fatigues of the day, and yields his system
and all his energies to the repose of sleep, and his
volition and all his powers of resistance are giving
way to its quieting influence, if he opens his
mouth, he lets the enemy in that tends to chill
his lungs, to rack his brain, paralyze his stomach,
and derange the whole system, and, during the
following day, headache, toothache, rheumatism,
dyspepsia, and the gout.

. Such a man knows not the extent of the pleas-
ure of sleep ; he rises in the morning fatigued,
takes remedies perhaps through the day, and
renews his disease at night. Destructive irrita-
tion of the nervous system and inflammation of
the lungs, with their consequences, are the imme-
diate results of this unnatural habit.

The lungs and the stomach are too near
neighbors not to be mutually affected by abuses
offered to the one or the other. They both have
their natural food, and the natural and appro-

244 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

priate means prepared by which it is to be
received.

The stomach performs its indispensable, but
secondary part, whilst the motive power is in
healthy action, and no longer. Man can exist
several days without food, but only about as many
minutes without the action of the lungs. Men
habitually say " they don't sleep well, because
something is wrong in their stomachs,'' when the
truth may be, that their stomachs are wrong be-
cause something is wrong in their sleep.

If this dependent affinity in the human system
be true, besetting man's life with so many dangers
flowing from the abuse of his lungs, with the fact
that the brute creations are exempt from all of
these dangers, and the Indians in the wilderness
nearly so, how important is the question which it
raises, ■ — whether the frightful and unaccountable
bills of mortality amongst the civilized races of
mankind are not greatly augmented, if not chiefly
caused, by this error of life, beginning in the
cradle, and becoming by habit a second nature,
to weary and torment mankind to their graves ?

Man is created, we are told, to live threescore
and ten years ; but how small a proportion of man-
kind reach that age ! We learn from official
reports, that in civilized communities one-half or
more perish in infancy or childhood, and one-half

USE OF THE NOSTRILS. 245

of the remainder between that and the age of
twenty-five ; and physicians tell us the diseases
they died of, but who tells us of the causes of
those diseases ? All effects have their causes, —
disease is the cause of death, — but what is the
cause of disease? This question and its answer
are of infinitely more importance in the solution of
the problem of health than simply curing disease.

An Indian warrior sleeps and hunts and smiles
with his mouth shut, and with seeming reluc-
tance opens it even to eat or to speak. An Indian
child is not allowed to sleep with its mouth open,
from the very first sleep of its existence ; the
consequence of which is, that, while the teeth are
forming, they take their relative, natural positions,
and form that healthful and pleasing regularity
which has secured to the American Indians, as
a race, perhaps the most beautiful mouths in the
world.

The Indian mother, instead of embracing her
infant in her sleeping-hours in the heated exhala-
tion of her body, places it at arm's length from
her, and compels it to breath the fresh air, the
coldness of which generally prompts it to shut the
mouth ; in default of which, she presses the lips
together, until she fixes the habit which is to last
it through life ; and the contrast to this, which is
too often practised by mothers in the civilized

246 THOUGHTS FOE THE PEOPLE.

world, in the mistaken belief that extra warmth
is the essential thing for their darling babes, is
no doubt the innocent foundation of the princi-
pal, and as yet unexplained, cause of the deadly
diseases so frightfully swelling the bills of mortal-
ity in civilized communities.

Under the less cruel, and apparently more tender
and affectionate, treatment of many civilized moth-
ers, their infants sleep in their arms in their heated
exhalation, or in cradles in over-heated rooms,
with their faces covered, without the allowance of
a breath of vital air; where, as has been said,
they from necessity gasp for breath until it be-
comes a habit of their infancy and childhood to
sleep with their mouths wide open, which their
tender mothers overlook, or are not cruel enough
to correct, little thinking that the habit is to result
in the sad affliction which the croup, or other
diseases of the throat and lungs, induced by this
habit, may bring to their household.

When we see the brute creation nearly exempted
from premature death, and the Indian races com-
paratively so, while civilized communities show
such lamentable bills of mortality, it is but a
rational deduction that such fatality is the result
of habits not practised by Indians and the brute
creation ; and what other characteristic differences
in the habits of the three creations strike us as so

USE OF THE NOSTRILS. 247

distinctly different, and so proportioned to the
results, as already shown, — the brute with the
mouth always shut, the Indian with it shut dur-
ing the night and most of the day, while many
among the civilized races keep it open most of
the day and all of the night? The first of these
is nearly free from disease, the second compar-
atively so, and the third shows the lamentable
results in the bills of mortality.

How forcible and natural is the deduction from
these facts, that here may be the principal cause
of such widely different results, strengthened by
the other facts, that the greater part of the fatal
diseases of the body, as well as diseases of the
mind, before mentioned, are such as could and
would flow from such an unnatural abuse of the
lungs, the fountain and mainspring of life ! And
how important, also, is the question raised by
these facts, how far such an unnatural habit ex-
poses the human race to the dangers from epidemic
diseases !

Epidemic diseases are undoubtedly communi-
cated through the medium of the atmosphere, in
poisonous germs or infectious agents ; and what
conclusion can be more rational than that he who
sleeps with his mouth open during the night,
drawing an increased quantity of infected atmos-
phere directly on the lungs, will increase his

248 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

chances of contracting the disease? And how
interesting to science, and infinitely important to
the welfare of the human race, might yet be the
inquiry, whether the thousands and millions of
victims to cholera and yellow fever were not
those very portions of society who were in the
habit of conversing freely during the day, and
sleeping with their mouths open during the night,
in the districts infected with those awful scourges !

If physicians and surgeons gain fame for occa-
sionally conquering the enemy in combat, what
laurels, and what new titles, should await the
fair diplomatists who will keep the enemy out of
the field, — the affectionate mothers, who sit by
their sleeping infants, and watch and guard them
through their childhood against the departure
from one of nature's most wise and important
regulations, designed for their health and happi-
ness?

If the greater portion of this species of evil has
its origin in that early period of life, its correction
comes directly under the mother's province; and
there certainly can be no better guaranty for the
benefit of coming generations than that mothers
should be made fully sensible of the evil, and of
their own power to avert it. And to mothers we
would say, breathe pure air through the nostrils,
and give to yourselves and your offspring the full

USE OF THE NOSTRILS. 249

benefit of the peaceful and invigorating repose
which nature has prepared for all ; and in the
care of the darling objects of your tenderest affec-
tions, do not forget that God has prepared and
designed them to breathe the fresh open air ; and
remember that, when they sleep in your embrace
in close, heated rooms and feather beds, with
faces perhaps covered, forced to breathe, not only
confined air, but exhalations from your own body,
the consequences will be likely to break your
hearts in after years. Rest assured that the great
secret of life is the breathing principle, for which
nature has rightly prepared material, and the
proper mode of using it ; and at the incipient
stage of life, where mothers are the physicians, is
the easiest time to contract habits against nature,
or to correct them. And there is woman's appro-
priate sphere, where she takes to herself the
sweetest pleasures of her existence, and draws
the highest admiration of the world, while, like a
guardian angel, she is watching over, and giving
direction to, the destinies of man.

STAMMERING.

This affection, though not fatal, is often very
troublesome. It is caused by a spasmodic action
of the vocal organs. The treatment here recom-
mended for the cure of this difficulty will be
effectual in every case where there is no organic
defect in the vocal organs ; and where it fails,
we may be assured that it is in consequence of
a want of proper attention on the part of the
patient.

The secret of cure consists in following two
simple rules. First, the stammerer must never
attempt to speak while he is inhaling his breath,
or when it is nearly exhausted. Before attempt-
ing to speak he should inflate the lungs, and be
sure he has breath enough to speak distinctly the
words or sentence he wishes to utter. This rule,
if enforced, is in itself sufficient in most cases to
remove the impediment. Where, this is not suffi-
cient, it is only necessary to divide our conver-
sation into measures, and keep time as we do in
music.

250

STAMMERING. 251

It will be observed that stammering persons
never find any difficulty in singing. The reason
of this is, that by observing the measure of the
music, by keeping time, the organs of speech are
kept in such position that enunciation is easy.
Apply the same rule to reading or speech, and
the same result will follow. Of course the first
rule must be observed, always keeping the lungs
well inflated to give a sufficient amount of air.
Let the stammerer commence by reading simple
compositions, like the Psalms of David, or a single
sentence, " Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in
Zion," keeping time with the fingers if necessary,
letting each syllable or word occupy the same
length of time, and he will not stammer. Let
him pronounce slowly at first, then faster, but
keeping time, and he will be surprised to find
that, by a very little practice, he will read with-
out stammering, and nearly as rapidly as persons
ordinarily talk or read. Then practise this read-
ing and conversation until the habit is broken up.
Perseverance is all that is necessary to effect a
perfect cure.

USE OF THE BEARD.

Physiologists generally agree in the fact that
every portion of the body bears some sympathetic
relation to the brain, or its function, the mind.
This would argue that if a man wishes to preserve
all his native vigor, both of mind and body, and
be godlike in all his designs and aspirations, with
a full capacity to appreciate and comprehend the
universe of appreciable things, he must be " per-
fect, entire, and wanting nothing." Wearing the
beard was as common to the ancients as wearing
the hair ; and if men were disfigured by being
shorn, as a punishment, it was considered a dis-
grace, and their effeminate appearance humiliated
them, and kept them from society until the beard
had grown again.

A person who has never shaved has a soft,
beautiful, flowing beard and mustache, which
can be dressed to suit the taste or fastidiousness
of the wearer.

The beard on the face of man was designed to
serve important ends.

252

USE OF THE BEARD. 253

Like the hair of the head, it is hollow, and the
bulbous root of every hair joined to a nerve of
the face. Into the orifice of each hair constitut-
ing the beard, the connected nerve discharges a
portion of its own vital fluid, which retains its
fluid state fully to the surface of the skin, and
by its support keeps the beard soft and healthy.
When the face is closely shaven, thousands of
openings are made through which flow as many
streams of nervous fluid. It is estimated that
the man who shaves three times a week wastes
thirty times the amount of vital fluid required
to sustain an unshaven beard. This outflow con-
tinues after each process of shaving till the fluid
spreading forms a coating which causes the flow
to cease. The waste thus made is a draft upon
the entire nervous system, as much as the oozing
of blood would be a drain upon the vitality of
the body.

Not only are the fountains of life thus invaded
by the razor, but also the natural covering of the
face is removed, subjecting the delicate termini
of the facial nerves exposed to sudden transitions
of temperature, often much to the detriment of
the health. Let a person thus shaven go out
in a cold day and he will experience a painful
sensitiveness to the cold of the part so uncovered,
while myriads of doors are open inviting disease

25-4 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

to enter, and the nerves are so many telegraph-
wires to bear the tidings through every part of
the frame.

" A well thatcht face is a comely grace,
And a shelter from the cold."

Is it marvellous that men should daily or tri-
weekly renew the barbarous practice of shaving,
even though there were no other injurious effects ?

That the beard of the upper lip is of great
service to the eyes we have most conclusive proof.
Whoever has put a dull razor to the beard on
that part of the face starts tears from the eyes,
thus demonstrating the immediate nervous connec-
tion between that part of the beard and the eyes.
Also shaving the lower lip and chin has a ten-
dency to develop and aggravate diseases of the
throat and lungs, and other constitutional dis-
turbances. A preacher of the gospel who had
for years kept a clean-shaven face was troubled
by partial loss of sight and a general prostration
of health. He ceased shaving ; and in a few
months his eyesight was restored, and he regained
his usual health. We might refer to numerous
instances where the eyesight and general health
have been very much improved by ceasing to
shave.

Especially is it important for clergymen and

USE OF THE BEARD. ZOO

all public speakers to allow the beard to remain
upon the chin and throat. I have known many
public speakers who had nearly lost their voice
from shaving to recover their power of speech by
allowing the beard to grow upon the chin and
throat.

Moreover, the beard stands sentinel at the chief
gateway to the lungs, to arrest dust and other
injurious intruders from entering this sacred
temple of life.

A farmer who raised large quantities of clover-
seed said he had found that no man who shaved
could work consecutively more than two days at
cleaning clover-seed on account of the dust collect-
ing in his throat and lungs, while those with full
beards could continue such work week after week.
Persons working at needle-grinding, stone-cutting,
or any dusty work, are protected by the mustache
and beard from the large amount of irritating dust
that was formerly inhaled by such laborers when
they shaved ; and, according to recent statistics,
the mortality, formerly so large among that class
of artisans, has sensibly diminished since the
wearing of the beard has become more general.

OCCUPATION — EXERCISE.

We should all choose occupations in harmony
with our tastes, and physical, mental, and moral
nature or capabilities, — such occupation as we
can pursue with zeal, feeling that we are work-
ing for the good of ourselves, of those with
whom we associate, and of the world in which
we live.

A life-work having been chosen, we must be
actively occupied. Idleness is dangerous ; and if
it does not lead directly to vice or malevolence, it
is likely to produce melancholy.

Merchants, mechanics, farmers, and all steady
laborers, have no leisure for imaginary wretched-
ness. Then, steady occupation affords a guaranty
from the curse of idleness and its dangers.

If we have no necessary occupation, it becomes
extremely difficult to make to ourselves occupa-
tions as entirely absorbing as those which neces-
sity imposes. The professions which we make
for ourselves are seldom more than half profes-
sions, and often leave the mind in a state of va-

256

OCCUPA TION — EXERCISE. 257

cancy and inoccupation. We must rise to a due
sense of its great importance ; and as the dis-
pensing power is in our hands, we must be very
jealous of remission and of idleness.

In all our cities, there are people who do not
seem to engage in any steady employment. Some
of them at times are occupied perilously, as in
gaming, others frivolously in lounging about
hotels and public parks. Such people are always
dissatisfied with themselves and with society, and
are pretty sure to make everybody dissatisfied with
them. They earn for themselves very little, and
of course are not entitled to receive more than
they earn. People without occupation are always
unhappy ; and no one can make them otherwise till
they change their mode of thought and manner of
life, and engage in some useful employment.

Let us all be occupied, in the highest employ-
ment of which our natures are capable, and die
with the consciousness that we have done our
best.

Steady workers seldom yield to fancied or real
sorrow. When grief sits down, folds its hands,
and mournfully feeds upon its own feelings, weav-
ing the dim shadows, that a little exertion might
sweep away, into a funeral pall, the strong spirit
is shorn of its might, and sorrow becomes our
master. When troubles flow upon us, dark and

258 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE.

heavy, and we cannot overcome them by direct
effort, we should seek by occupation to divert the
dark waters that threaten to overwhelm us, into
a thousand channels, which the duties of life
always present. Before we dream of it, those
waters will fertilize the present, and give birth to
fresh flowers, that will become pure and holy in
the sunshine which penetrates to the path of duty
in spite of every obstacle.

EXERCISE.

One of the great conditions of life and health
is action ; therefore it is necessary for invalids,
and ladies who have no steady occupation, to en-
gage in some regular exercise ; and without it the
health is impaired, the system becomes enfeebled,
and life itself shortened.

By proper exercise the chest is expanded, the
tone of the muscles improved, the current of blood
quickened, and the whole system invigorated and
refreshed. But exercise, to be effective, must not
be excessive ; must never be carried so far that
the body feels fatigued, or the muscular powers
exhausted, in which case more harm than benefit
may be the result.

It is of the most service, also, when taken at
regular intervals. As we gain most from that
which is pleasurable, that which agreeably occu-

OCCUPA TION — EXEE CISE. 259

pies the mind, — the cultivation of a garden, or
any light work with a distinct end in view, — is
always preferable and more conducive to health
than long, solitary walks, which, because they are
aimless, are often uninteresting and tiresome, and
the body lacks the refreshing energy which the
exercise should bring. It is absolutely necessary
to keep harmony between mind and body, in order
that exercise should impart the greatest benefit.
The peculiar relations of the body and mind
render it difficult to affect the body favorably in
the cure of disease except through the mind.
And to this fact may be attributed much of the
ill-success of physicians who drug the body, and
neglect the higher activities of the mind. Re-
move the morbid condition of mind, and the
bodily affliction disappears as if by magic. So
exercise, to have its health-giving effect, must
have the co-operation of the mind. Physicians
frequently recommend long walks as exercise.
When the hour for taking it comes, their patients
rise listlessly, yawn, stretch themselves, and say,
" Well, I suppose I must take my walk, and have
it done with." Taking it as a medicine, instead
of making it a pleasure, they return tired, out of
humor, and with exhausted vitality. This is all
wrong. Every exercise for invalids in which the
mind does not co-operate with the body is worse

260 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

than useless, as it tends to exhaustion rather than
building up.

In all such cases our first endeavor should be to
get the body and mind in harmonious action ; and
then, when physical exercise is required, the
patients should be instructed to have some purpose
in their walks, such as calling upon some friend,
or viewing some object of interest, so that their
minds shall be taken from the walk, and they will
return refreshed and invigorated.

We should always remember that the real man
is mind or spirit, and the controlling element of
the universe, and should so control the " house
we live in " as to prevent physical disease and
premature death. Physicians who depend upon
drugs, and ignore the most important part of their
profession, will do very little for the health of
their patients or the sanitary condition of the
people.

Exercise may be active, such as walking, gar-
dening, and the active sports ; or passive, as sail-
ing or riding. For the young, healthy, and
vigorous, we would recommend the former, while
for those who have become invalids from disease,
and whose powers are greatly depressed, the latter
would be preferable.

We cannot, in this work, expatiate upon the
relative utility of the various manners of exercise;

OCCUPA TION — EXEBCISE. 261

suffice it to say, that any exercise which does not
fatigue and debilitate the person may be of bene-
fit in promoting the general health.

Not only the body, but the mind, requires exer-
cise. The brain, the great centre of life, requires
the stimulus of vigorous thought. The same laws
which govern other parts of the system are appli-
cable here ; use strengthens, while without it the
brain, and, indeed, the whole mental and moral
character, becomes weakened ; and with that weak-
ening, the integrity of the whole physical and
moral constitution is impaired. It is a prevail-
ing mistake that active study impairs health and
shortens life; for it is only by close application,
and a vigorous exercise of the powers of the mind,
that a bright manhood or womanhood can be at-
tained. Instead of debilitating, it strengthens ;
instead of shortening life, it prolongs it, and opens
the pathway to broader culture and a higher
sphere of life. There are cases in which the
young and ambitious strain their mental capacity
and overwork the brain, thus bringing on disease
and premature decay. But the cases are rare ; and
when they occur, it is not the exercise, but its
abuse, that causes the injury.

POSTURE.

An erect bodily attitude is of vastly more im-
portance to health than is generally imagined.
Crooked bodily positions, maintained for any
length of time, are always injurious, whether sit-
ting, standing, or lying, whether sleeping or wak-
ing.

To sit with the body leaning forward on the
lungs and stomach, or to one side, with the heels
elevated to a level with the head, is not only in
bad taste, but exceedingly detrimental to health.
It cramps the stomach, presses the vital organs,
interrupts the free motions of the chest, and en-
feebles the functions of the abdominal and thoric
organs, and, in fact, unbalances the whole nervous
and muscular system.

Many children become slightly humpbacked
or round-shouldered by sleeping with the head
raised on a high pillow. When any person finds
it easier to sit, stand, or sleep in a crooked posi-
tion than a straight one, he may be sure his mus-
cular system is badly deranged, and the more

262

POSTURE. 263

careful he is to preserve a straight or an upright
position, and get back to Nature again, the
better.

Those persons engaged in occupations requiring
the hands alone to move, while the lower limbs
remain motionless, should bear in mind that with-
out frequently raising the frame to an erect posi-
tion, and giving exercise to all parts of the body,
such a practice will tend to destroy their health.
They should also sit in as erect a position as possi-
ble. With seamstresses, there is always more or
less stooping of the head and shoulders, tending to
retard circulation, respiration, and digestion, and
produce curvature of the spine. The head should
be thrown back to give the lungs full play. Health
cannot be maintained without free respiration.
Strength and general health must come from exer-
cise. Confined attitudes are in violation of cor-
rect theories of healthy physical developments and
the instincts of nature. Those accustomed to sit
writing for hours, day after day, can form some
idea of the exhausting nature of the toilsome
and poorly paid labor of the seamstress.

Parents and guardians should see to it that
those under their care maintain an erect posture,
and keep the system in harmony with the laws of
life, especially during the period of growth. And
persons who from necessity are obliged to remain

264 THOUGHTS FOB THE PEOPLE

for a time in, unnatural or cramped positions
should overcome the evil as far as possible, by
proper exercise in the open air, and other means
of maintaining the strength, vigor, harmony, and
beauty of their physical constitutions.

THE BENEFIT OF LAUGHING.

There is not the remotest corner or inlet
of the minute blood-vessels of the human body
that does not feel some wavelet from the convul-
sion occasioned by good, hearty laughter. The
life-principle, or the central man, is shaken to its
innermost depths, sending new tides of life and
strength to the surface, and thus materially tend-
ing to insure good health to the persons who
indulge therein. The blood moves more rapidly,
and conveys a different impression to all the or-
gans of the body, as it visits them on that partic-
ular mystic journey when the man is laughing, or
joyous from what it does at other times. For this
reason every good, hearty laugh in which a person
indulges tends to lengthen his life, conveying, as
it does, new and distinct stimulus to the vital
forces. To accomplish this object it is not neces-
sary to make an explosion that will be an offence
to those about us. Doubtless the time will come
when physicians, conceding more importance than
they do now to the influence of the mind upon
265

266 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE

the vital forces of the body, will make their pre-
scriptions more with reference to the mind, and
less with drugs for the body, and will, in so
doing, find the best and most effective method of
producing the required effect upon the patient.
Our advice to all is, indulge in good, hearty, soul-
ful laughter when the opportunity offers, and you
will derive material benefit therefrom.

A merry heart, a cheerful spirit, from which
laughter wells up as naturally as bubbles the
springs of Saratoga, are worth all the money-bags,
stocks, and mortgages of Wall Street. The man
who laughs is a doctor, with a diploma indorsed
by the school of nature ; his face does more good
in a sick-room than a pound of powders or a gal-
lon of bitter draughts. A true philosopher says, if
things go right, he laughs because he is pleased ;
if they go wrong, he laughs because it is cheaper
and better than crying. People are always glad
to see a cheerful man ; their hands instinctively go
out to meet his grasp, while they turn involun-
tarily from the clammy touch of the dyspeptic,
who speaks on the groaning key. He laughs you
out of your faults, while you never dream of
being offended with him ; it seems as if sunshine
came into the room with him, and you never
know what a pleasant world you are living in
until he points out the sunny streaks on its path-

THE BENEFIT OF LAUGHING. 267

way. A good-humored laugh is the key to all
hearts. "Satire," says a keen observer, "is the
most useful of all forms of writing ; sentiment
is literally wasted on nineteen readers out of
twenty ! " The truth is, that people like to be
laughed at in a genial sort of way. If you are
making yourself ridiculous, you want to be told
of it in a pleasant manner, not sneered at. And
it is astonishing how frankly the laughing popula-
tion can talk, without treading on the sensitive
toes of their neighbors ! Why will people put on
long faces, when it is so much easier and more
comfortable to laugh? Tears come to us un-
sought and unbidden. The wisest art in life is
to cultivate smiles ; to find the flowers where
others shrink away for fear of thorns.

A good man is almost always a cheerful one.
It is fit that a bad man should scowl and look
melancholy ; but he who has God's smile of appro-
bation upon him should show its radiance in his
countenance. Dr. Johnson said he "never knew
a villain in his life that was not, on the whole, an
unhappy dog." And well he may be. But an
honest man, — the man with a good conscience,
— let him enjoy his sleep, and his dinner, and
the love of his wife, and the prattle of his chil-
dren, and show a beaming face to his neighbor.
Surely it is not the best theology that teaches that

268 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

He who has given such fulness of joy to beasts
and birds, delights in the misery of men, or that,
having filled our hearts with gladness, we ought
to give the lie to his goodness by wearing faces
beclouded with woe, and furrowed with unhappi-
ness.

If we cannot do this, we may be sure that the
fault is with ourselves ; and we should immedi-
ately put ourselves in harmony with our Creator
by changing our thoughts and mode of life, and
be governed by the spirit of him who has given us
this beautiful world in which to school ourselves
for the better world to come.

CRYING.

Laughing is better than crying in a general
way ; but there are times of sadness and sorrow
when it is more natural to give vent to the feel-
ings by crying rather than laughing.

A French physician has written a long disser-
tation on the advantages of groaning and crying
in general, and especially during surgical opera-
tions. He contends that groaning and crying are
the two grand operations by which nature allays
anguish ; that those patients who give way to
their natural feelings more speedily recover from
accidents and operations than those who suppose
it unworthy a man to betray such symptoms of

CRYING. 269

cowardice as either to groan or cry. If people
are at all unhappy about anything, let them go
into their rooms and comfort themselves with a
hearty cry, and they will feel a hundred per cent
better afterwards.

We should keep our children in a happy state
of mind as far as we can. A happy childhood is
very desirable. It not only gives a good impres-
sion of home life, but its remembrance in after
life is valuable. But there may be times when the
crying of children should not be too greatly dis-
couraged. If in times of great grief it is system-
atically repressed, the result may be St. Vitus's
dance, epileptic fits, or some other disease of the
nervous system. What is natural is nearly always
useful ; and nothing can be more natural than the
crying of children, when anything occurs to give
them either physical or mental pain.

Probably most persons have experienced the
effect of tears in relieving great sorrow. It is
even curious how the feelings are allayed by their
free indulgence in groans and sighs. Then let
parents and friends show more indulgence to noisy
bursts of grief, on the part of children as well as
of older persons, and regard the eyes and the
mouth as the safety valves through which nature
discharges her surplus steam.

MUSIC.

"Music hath charms to soothe a savage."

Music is one of the most precious gifts of God
to man. It not only arouses the circulation of the
blood, wakes up the energies, and diffuses life and
animation into every function of the body, but it
allays the most violent passion, calms the disturbed
condition of the mind, and lifts the soul to a
higher plane of life.

The power of the human voice in service of
song is truly wonderful ; and when united in har-
mony with the " music of the spheres " is one of
the most effectual means of expressing the brother-
hood of man, and bringing the human mind, politi-
cally, socially, and religiously, into concord with
the " universe of God."

Accidents may cause discord in our musical in-
struments. A sense of fear or other causes may
disturb the harmony of our thoughts, and produce
in us a negative condition, and for a time seem to
fill our bodies with disease and our minds with
despondency and doubt.

270

MUSIC. 271

Nothing can be better adapted to dispel such
conditions of the human system than inspiring
music, — the use of musical instruments in con-
nection with the human voice.

But for people who are really sick we should
omit such music as appeals to the muscles, and
tends to lift the foot instead of the affections of
the soul, and select such music as will soothe as
well as cheer; music that appeals directly to our
spiritual nature ; music that tends to lift the soul
above the pain and sorrows of earth into the
realms of peace and joy.

The human voice affords the best music. But
if musical instruments are used, we should select
reed instruments, like the organ, melodeon, or
accordion. Stringed instruments, like the piano
or violin, are exciting, and tend to make the sick
tired, restless, and nervous.

Song is the harmonious outburst of our spiritual
nature, and increases both our mental and physi-
cal activity, and therefore conduces to health and
happiness. People who have no ear for music,
and those who have not been taught to sing the
songs of Zion, have lost one of the sweetest parts
of our religious worship. Music was a subject of
practice and study in the days of David, the sweet
singer of Israel. Many instruments have been in-
vented which increase the power of music ; but

272 THOUGHTS FOR THE PEOLPE.

the most refreshing and soul-inspiring comes from
the human voice. Gladness, gratitude, music, and
joy should daily make every habitation vocal with
the concord of sweet sounds. Music has a direct
tendency to open the heart, wake up the affections,
and elevate our natures. It was the harp in the
hands of the son of Jesse which exorcised the evil
spirits from royalty, and its harmonious strains
are still most effectual to dispel the evil spirit of
discontent.

Music is one of the fairest and most glorious
gifts of God, for it removes from the heart the
weight of sorrow and the fascination of evil
thoughts ; and the soul that can rejoice and sing
with a hearty zest does not harbor " treason,
stratagems, and spoils."

Cultivate music, then ; put no restraint upon
your joyous nature ; let the mind grow and ex-
pand; and forever stamp the countenance with
the sunshine of gladness, and the heart with the
impress of a diviner nature, by feeding the soul
in that " concord of sweet sounds " which prevails
in the habitations of angels.

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